Musgraves Replies to Noem After Dallas Concert Criticism

Country singer Kacey Musgraves responded to Kristi Noem on social media after the former Homeland Security secretary criticized Musgraves for welcoming Texas Senate candidate James Talarico at a Dallas concert. Musgraves’s reply invoked Noem’s account of shooting and killing a family dog, Cricket, described in Noem’s memoir. Talarico, a Democrat running for the Senate, attended Musgraves’s concert in Dallas on Saturday, October 10, and posted a thank-you message afterward. Noem responded on X by saying she preferred country singer Ella Langley to Musgraves and Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton to Talarico. Musgraves replied on X that Noem did not have a dog in the fight, but would have shot it if she did. The remark referred to Noem’s memoir account of killing Cricket, a 14-month-old dog she described as difficult to train. Noem’s account drew criticism after the book was published. The exchange centered on the candidates and the concert appearance, but neither Langley nor Paxton was directly involved in the social-media back-and-forth, according to the reported accounts.