3 Republican, to help her raise campaign money.But it is her record on the powerful Appropriations Committee that has invited the most national attention, after Club for Growth Action, the political arm of the fiscally conservative group, chose to endorse Mr. Putnam, spurning an incumbent for the first time in years. She is the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, negotiating funding for a wall at the southwestern border — although less than Mr. Trump has demanded — and steering military projects to her district.In interviews with more than two dozen district officials, Texas strategists and voters, Ms. Granger was widely viewed as having the upper hand with her high name recognition and an extensive record of securing projects for her district, which includes a large presence by the military contractor Lockheed Martin, a joint reserve base and other defense priorities. Turcios’s father, Juan, said of Mr. Putnam’s record: “What has he done for Fort Worth?” But, they acknowledge, Mr. Putnam has mounted a formidable challenge — and some voters are drawn to a new candidate.Mr. It’s estimated that J.D. Or if they want to separate themselves from Trump, they are either retiring or have contested seats.”"It's important that when decisions are being made that the voices on the table be representative of the diversity of our caucus," Escobar said.Many of the toughest political battles will happen in the Texas suburbs, which used to be majority white and safely Republican.But the number of Texans in Congress with Granger's experience has been shrinking dramatically in recent years. Her placement there was a big win for Texas Republicans in the House, giving one of their own a considerable amount of clout. “It’s been very, very ugly if you watched some of the ads.”Kitty Bennett contributed research.Given that the deeply conservative bent of her district is likely to determine the outcome of the general election, Ms. Granger’s race is also the latest case in which Republicans appear to be jeopardizing their own desperate push to recruit and elect more women.The decision by some conservative groups to target one of only 11 Republican women seeking to return to Congress has perplexed Ms. Granger and her allies, given the wide acknowledgment among leaders that Republicans have fallen badly behind on recruiting and retaining women to serve, an effort seen as critical to the party’s survival.David M. McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth Action, said his group was seeking to defeat Ms. Granger as part of a broader effort to punish lawmakers who have supported excessive federal spending.In the meantime, residents continue to drive around the construction of three bridges over dry land — “a monstrosity of a bridge,” Mette Blockhan, a Fort Worth occupational therapist, said of one of them — a constant reminder of unfinished work and apparent dysfunction.“We didn’t target her because she’s a woman — it’s based on her record,” Mr. McIntosh said. While Mr. Putnam is supported by anti-spending activists, one of his principal criticisms of Ms. Granger is that she has not secured enough federal money for the border wall that is Mr. Trump’s signature campaign promise.Representative Kay Granger is in an expensive primary battle while facing accusations that she has not done enough for President Trump, who endorsed her.To counter Mr. Putnam, Ms. Granger secured the coveted endorsement of Mr. Trump and energized her campaign operation, lining up endorsements from anti-abortion rights groups like the Susan B. Anthony List and high-ranking colleagues including Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. In a primary race that reflects the internal struggles of the Republican Party under President Trump, Mr. Putnam is attacking Ms. Granger as not conservative enough for Texas’s 12th Congressional District and insufficiently supportive of the president.“It’s gotten very toxic,” said Carlos Turcios, 18, a high school senior who has become an avid supporter of Ms. Granger’s campaign. Granger, has been the executive director of the local effort to reshape the river. Democrats are hoping to knock off another three incumbents with years of experience, while Republicans hope to regain the two seats they lost in 2018.That's about how long it takes to achieve a position like that, especially on the committee that decides government spending. Some voters here say Ms. Granger has come to take them for granted.“Because he’s never served,” she said of Mr. Putnam in an interview, “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”For now, Mr. Putnam and his allies are working to turn Ms. Granger’s long legislative record against her. The project, which has struggled to secure federal money despite Ms. Granger’s powerful perch on the House panel that allocates funding, has been under the management of her son, J.D. Granger was the executive director of the Panther Island project, which has been plagued by mismanagement and accountability problems for years amid reports that it’s still in the design phase well over a decade into its development.