Country music star Kacey Musgraves and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have become embroiled in unexpected social media drama tied to the Texas Senate race, one of the most closely watched of the midterms cycle.
Noem took to social media to pick a fight with the singer after she hosted James Talarico, the Democratic candidate, at her concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas over the weekend.
Musgraves didn’t take too kindly to Noem’s remarks. She hit back with an apparent jab at the politician’s infamous anecdote about shooting one of her own dogs.
Newsweek has contacted representatives for Musgraves and Noem via emails sent outside regular business hours. The Talarico and Paxton campaigns have also been contacted for comment via email. Newsweek is awaiting responses.
The feud comes against the backdrop of a competitive Senate race that could prove pivotal in deciding party control of the chamber. Democrats are seeking to flip a seat in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. Recent polls have shown Talarico narrowly ahead. This is despite attacks from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee, over Talarico’s nine-day absence from the campaign trail while recovering from the flu.
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How the Drama Started
The dispute began after Talarico attended a concert by Musgraves during her "Middle of Nowhere" tour on Saturday night.
Photos and videos show the Democrat was warmly received at the show. He later took to social media to thank Musgraves.
"Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!" Talarico wrote in posts on Facebook and X, alongside photos from his front row seat. This included one of the singer taking a selfie of the pair while dressed in a bedazzled top with "Dallas" written on it.
Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, responded to Talarico’s post on Monday, saying she prefers Ella Langley. Noem also made a reference to the country singer's song, Choosin’ Texas, though she is from Alabama, as she endorsed Paxton.
"I’ll take @ellalangleymsic over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico," Noem wrote.
Langley has not responded to the comment, but her account has since been untagged from Noem’s post.
Musgraves Fires Back
Musgraves, who was born and raised in Texas, hit back at Noem with a pointed comeback.
"I don't think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it," Musgraves wrote on X.
The remark appeared to be a reference to a controversial anecdote Noem included in her memoir about killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, whom she described as "untrainable" and "dangerous."
Noem, a close ally of President Donald Trump, defended killing the dog after the revelation sparked an intense backlash, including from Republicans. At the time, she was reportedly in consideration to be Trump’s running mate in 2024.
After winning a second term, Trump made Noem his Homeland Security Secretary. But the president fired her earlier this year following mounting criticism of her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security. This included her handling of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.
Talarico: ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’
Noem has not responded to Musgraves’ jab.
But Talarico shared a photo of himself with Musgraves on X on Monday night, adding: "Don’t mess with Texas."
Meanwhile, Musgraves has shared a post on her Instagram that provide details about important dates for Texas voters to know. She recently angered conservatives after pausing her concert in Chicago to ask fans to donate to a nonprofit that provides legal aid to children whose parents have been deported under the Trump administration.
James Talarico Vs. Ken Paxton: Latest Polls
Talarico has led most polls since Paxton clinched the nomination, usually inside the margin of error. The RealClearPolitics average of polls taken from September 18 to October 8 has him leading by 2.8 points—48.1 percent to Paxton's 45.3 percent.
The newest poll in that average, from the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group, was conducted among 1,086 likely voters from October 6 to 8, largely during Talarico's absence from the campaign trail, and found him ahead 47 percent to 44 percent.
A YouGov and a New York Times/Siena College poll each had him ahead by six points in early October, and a late-September Fox News poll put him two points ahead of Paxton.
Paxton has polled better on the border. A Texas Pulse poll by the Texas A&M Bush School and ReconMR in late July found him ahead 48 percent to 44 percent on securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Democrats are treating Talarico's lead with caution. In interviews with Newsweek published Sunday, party strategists warned that narrow edges in Texas and other Senate races could vanish, pointing to 2024, when Kamala Harris' September lead was gone by November.
"Every Democrat should be running as if they're 10 points behind," Doug Gordon, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of UpShift Strategies, told Newsweek.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and James Debens