A Republican congresswoman from Texas has not cast a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives since July while she was living in a memory care facility — something she did not disclose to the public, according to a Dallas media outlet that discovered the reason for her extended absence .

Kay Granger, 81, has represented Texas’ 12th Congressional District, which includes part of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, since 1997. And starting in January 2023, she chaired the powerful House Appropriations Committee for more than a year.

But months after Granger announced she planned to retire when her term ends in early 2025, she largely disappeared from the public eye. According to their congressional website, their last vote was on July 24, rejecting a measure that would reduce the salary of the deputy assistant administrator for pesticide programs to $1, just days after Joe Biden quit his presidential campaign over questions about his age and his mental fitness had canceled.

This fact prompted a Dallas Express reporter to investigate where Granger was. Calls to her offices went straight to voicemail, and there was no sign of ongoing business at her constituency office.

Reporter Carlos Turcios eventually received a tip from a local resident that Granger had moved into an assisted living facility that specialized in memory care. After visiting the facility in question to determine whether Granger actually lived there, the assistant manager confirmed, “This is her home,” according to a story Turcios published Friday in the Dallas Express.

Neither Granger nor her staff could immediately be reached for comment Sunday. But local and state Republican leaders were among those who said they were concerned about the coverage of Granger.

Bo French, chairman of the Republican Party in Tarrant County, Texas, told the Dallas Express that “the lack of representation for (Granger’s district) is troubling to say the least.”

“Extraordinarily important votes” on disaster relief, the debt ceiling and the U.S.-Mexico border have taken place since Granger’s last vote, French said. “And Kay Granger was nowhere to be found. … We deserve better.”

In a social media post, Texas State Republican Committee member Rolando Garcia added that Granger’s need to live in a memory care facility suggests she may have already been “visibly in decline” when she was Successfully ran for re-election in 2022.

“A sad and humiliating way to end her political career,” Garcia wrote. “Sad that no one cared enough to ‘take the keys away’ from her before she reached this moment. And a sad commentary on congressional gerontocracy.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and the chamber’s Majority Leader Steve Scalise – both Republicans from Louisiana – welcomed Granger at an event in her honor in Washington DC in November. Johnson praised her as “a champion for Texas,” “a loyal public servant” and “a loyal friend,” while Scalise praised her as “a tough conservative.”

Previously, in February, Johnson and Scalise both signed a statement saying one of the “most troubling parts” of a special counsel report into Biden’s handling of classified documents concerned “how the president’s memory… exhibited ‘significant limitations.’

After Biden performed poorly in a debate against Trump in June, raising questions about his mental capacity, Johnson urged the president’s Cabinet to consider initiating a constitutional amendment allowing his replacement.

Biden, 82, dropped out of the Nov. 5 election on July 21, three days before Granger’s last recorded vote in Congress. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris (60) as his successor, although Donald Trump (78) defeated her and secured a second presidency starting in January.

Meanwhile, also in February, Granger’s Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives demanded that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testify before Congress over his failure to promptly notify the White House of a hospitalization due to complications from surgery to treat prostate cancer.

Granger was the first woman to serve as mayor of Fort Worth while also becoming a Republican member of Congress. She was instrumental in raising more military funds, in part because a Lockheed Martin factory in her district builds F-35 fighter jets.

On Friday, Granger’s Facebook page posted a picture of her with a group of helpers described as “the best.”

The post was flooded with comments about the scandal uncovered by the Dallas Express, including one that read: “Are these the people who hid the fact that you are in a (memory) care facility? Fraud!”