Congresswoman Kay Granger will be facing a primary challenger in 2022, with sources confirming that former Colleyville City Councilman Chris Putnam will once again be mounting a run against the 25-year incumbent. He is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday.
Putnam had previously ran unsuccessfully against Granger in 2020 in a high-profile matchup that caught national attention. Granger won the bid with 58 percent of the vote, the smallest margin of victory of all Texas congressional Republicans who faced challengers. At the time, she touted the support of President Donald Trump, who endorsed every Republican congressional incumbent the night before the first impeachment vote.
Since then, however, Granger strayed from her support of the former president, being one of the first congressional Republicans to demand that he concede in November.
Granger has been plagued for the past several years with a scandal involving her son’s involvement with the Panther Island economic development project, a boondoggle in which nearly $400 million has been spent over 15 years, with little progress to show for the project. She currently sits on the bipartisan committee for the infrastructure bill championed by President Joe Biden, with additional funding for the Panther Island project currently contained in the bill.
Additionally, Granger currently holds a lifetime score of 60 percent on the FreedomWorks Congressional Scorecard.
“Our country is in crisis, and it’s time we all work together to save America,” Putnam says in an unofficial announcement obtained by Texas Scorecard. “Our borders are wide open; Biden has allowed the Taliban and ISIS to retake Afghanistan; we’re experiencing a national violent crime epidemic because our leaders have refused to support our public safety community or stand up to BLM and Antifa, our federal government has grown out of control, our most trusted institutions have become hopelessly politicized by the woke left; and the liberal media and out-of-control big tech companies are silencing conservative voices in frightening and dangerous Orwellian fashion.”
“The 12th Congressional District can no longer afford to have a representative who is silent on these issues. I will go to D.C. and fight for the values that made America great,” he added.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who endorsed Putnam during his 2020 bid, will serve as the campaign’s honorary chair.
While the 12th Congressional District currently stretches from west Tarrant County into Parker and Wise counties, state lawmakers are slated to redraw the district maps in the coming months to add two new seats.
Granger has not yet formally announced her plans for re-election.
