Kacey Musgraves isn’t letting her critics get the last word.
On Monday (Oct. 12), the country star fired back at Kristi Noem, the former Homeland Security secretary and current U.S. special envoy, after Noem took a swipe at Musgraves for welcoming Texas Senate candidate James Talarico to one of her concerts over the weekend.
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“I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it,” Musgraves wrote on X, delivering a pointed jab at Noem’s controversial account of killing her family dog.
The exchange happened after Talarico attended Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere Tour stop in Dallas on Saturday. The Democratic candidate shared a photo with the singer on social media, writing, “Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!”
Noem subsequently shared a screenshot of Talarico’s post, using the moment to voice her preference for both another country star and Talarico’s Republican opponent in the Senate race.
“I’ll take [Ella Langley] over Kacey Musgraves any day,” Noem wrote. “And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
The reference to “Choosin’ Texas” was a nod to Langley’s country hit, which spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 before Taylor Swift‘s “Patient Zero” ended its historic run this month. The song’s unprecedented chart success has helped make Langley one of country music’s biggest breakout stars of the entire year.
Musgraves’ response turned the former government official’s criticism into a reference to one of the most controversial stories from Noem’s political career. In her 2024 memoir No Going Back, Noem recounted shooting and killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, whom she described as having an aggressive temperament. The revelation drew widespread backlash following the book’s publication.
The incident therefore provided Musgraves the punchline to her response to Noem’s unsolicited comparison of the two country singers.
Neither Langley nor Paxton was directly involved in the social media exchange between Musgraves and Noem.
Both country singers have made their mark on the Billboard charts. Musgraves released her sixth studio album, Middle of Nowhere, on May 1, while Langley’s sophomore album, Dandelion, arrived in April. Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” made history with its record-breaking Hot 100 run, while Musgraves continued her chart presence with new music from her latest album, with the project landing at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
Musgraves has previously used her platform to speak out on political and social issues. Earlier this year, she invited The Mariachi Brothers to open several of her performances in Texas. The group had previously been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before being released in March, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Read the response from Musgraves below.
I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it. https://t.co/bI50bahJZu
— K A C E Y (@KaceyMusgraves) October 12, 2026