Seven-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem are locked in a fiery public dispute on social media following a political clash over Texas Senate candidates and country music records.
The exchange began after Musgraves hosted back-to-back concerts on her Middle of Nowhere Tour at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. During the shows, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico attended from the front row and later shared photos on X (formerly Twitter) featuring Musgraves taking a selfie with him while wearing a custom bedazzled Dallas top.
“Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!” Talarico posted the following day.
The post caught the attention of Noem—the former South Dakota governor who recently filed for divorce from her high school sweetheart, Byron Noem, following intense media coverage surrounding personal family scandals. Reposting Talarico’s photos, Noem criticized Musgraves while backing rival candidates and chart rival Ella Langley.
“I’ll take [Ella Langley] over Kacey Musgraves any day,” Noem wrote on X, referencing Langley’s hit single “Choosin’ Texas,” which recently set the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
Musgraves delivered a swift, pointed rebuttal on Monday afternoon, referencing a widely criticized detail from Noem’s 2024 political memoir, No Going Back, in which Noem revealed she shot and killed her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, Cricket, over behavioral issues.
“I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it,” Musgraves posted directly to Noem on X.
Musgraves’ biting single-sentence response immediately went viral across pop culture and political channels, proving once again that the country superstar is never one to back down from online confrontation.
