Kay Granger will not seek reelection

House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger announced Wednesday she won’t run for reelection next year, opening the top spot on one of the House’s most powerful committees and her safe Republican seat in North Texas.

"As I announce my decision to not seek re-election, I am encouraged by the next generation of leaders in my district. It’s time for the next generation to step up and take the mantle and be a strong and fierce representative for the people," Granger said in a statement.

Less than a year into her role atop of the coveted panel, Granger’s announcement doesn’t come as a total surprise to her colleagues, after months of intraparty strife over the House Republican strategy for funding the government. Another shutdown deadline looms just more than two weeks away, along with the threat of across-the-board budget cuts fated at the end of April for both the military and non-defense programs.

Rep. Tom Cole is seen as the heir apparent for the top GOP Appropriations spot after Granger. The Oklahoma Republican, who is currently vice chair of the panel and head of the Rules Committee, is popular among the House GOP conference and was even floated as a candidate to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy last month. Cole demurred, however, publicly cheerleading each of the conference’s picks for the gavel.

All year, Granger and other top appropriators have capitulated to House conservative hardliners on funding cuts and controversial policy restrictions, waiting to be granted agency to negotiate final funding bills that can also pass the Senate. That discord lingers as House Republicans start anew on their funding strategy under Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said he will seek concessions from Democrats in order to prevent a funding lapse come midnight on Nov. 17. But he has yet to flesh out those GOP demands.

The Texas Republican, a McCarthy ally, took an unexpected stand two weeks ago against Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid for the speakership. She helped tank the pick of the band of lawmakers who booted McCarthy and have insisted Granger’s committee rewrite the House spending bills to undercut the funding levels set under this summer's bipartisan debt limit deal.

The 80-year-old Granger has represented Texas’ 12th Congressional District since 1997, when she became the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the House.

In 2018, she was selected by the House GOP Steering Committee as the top Republican on Appropriations, ending a four-way race for the coveted spot. Granger became the first female ranking Republican to lead the panel, and one of two women, alongside former Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), to lead the committee.

Granger was also the first Republican woman to serve on the Defense spending subcommittee, going on to lead the influential panel that oversees military funding.

Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.