Republican Senator Brings Pet Bulldog to Testify at Senate Hearing – ryan

• Sen. Jim Justice has a 5-year-old English bulldog called Babydog, who often accompanies her owner to public appearances
• Babydog attended a Senate hearing with Justice on April 10
• The pet dog made a comment during the hearing, with help from Justice, which was entered into the official record

When Sen. Jim Justice wants to make a statement, he turns to his trusted companion, Babydog.

The 5-year-old English bulldog — Justice’s go-to attention grabber at work events — has accompanied the Republican senator, 73, at various engagements since she was a young dog and her owner was the governor of West Virginia.

Since Justice was elected as a senator earlier this year, Babydog (who has over 10,000 followers on her official X account) has transitioned to making appearances at Senate hearings in Washington, D.C., with her “testimonies” making it into official records as recently as last week.

On Thursday, April 10, Justice took a moment, about an hour into an official hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to bring attention to his beloved bulldog — and, through her, attempted to deliver a message.

“Before we go any further, I’m going to hold Babydog here,” Justice began as a helper lifted the canine into his lap.

“This little rascal has done something that I think is really important to all of us,” he said as the dog licked — and panted — loudly into the microphone.

“She humanizes us. She makes us absolutely get off our pedestals,” the senator continued. “Here’s her message: She makes you smile. I can see it all over the place right now. But you know what else she does? She loves everybody. She truly does.”

Justice explained that though he never intended to “be hauling a bulldog around,” he and his family got Babydog during the COVID-19 pandemic and were overwhelmed with her love.

“We never owned a bulldog before,” he told the committee. “She’s not supposed to like everybody, but she does.”

“And with that being said, how can the message be any better?” he continued. “It really is true. If we made others smile, and loved everybody, it’d be one hell of a lot better world. That’s all there is to it.”

The senator then offered up his loyal sidekick’s “testimony,” telling the committee that “she would say just this: If you’re rich or poor, or a kid or an adult, or — God forbid — a Republican or a Democrat, she still loves you. … Let’s just celebrate this little thing as she humanizes all of us.”

He also thanked the chairman for allowing Babydog to have her moment before joking, “Now we’re out of here, ’cause she’s heavy.”

Justice’s message of “love” on behalf of the bulldog officially entered the hearing’s records. Committee chairman Mike Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, told Justice that “Babydog’s testimony will be admitted into the record without objection.”

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Before her recent cameo at Capitol Hill (one of several since Justice began serving as a senator earlier this year) she made waves after appearing by the politician’s side at the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wis. — an appearance that even earned her her own bobblehead, per the Associated Press.

The canine has also been by Justice’s side for controversial moments, like in 2022, when Justice, then the governor of West Virginia, held Babydog up during a State of the State address and told Bette Midler to “kiss her hiney.” (The star criticized West Virginia after Joe Manchin, one of West Virginia’s senators at the time, refused to vote in support of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act.)

But Babydog isn’t allowed to appear everywhere. Late last year, after reports emerged that Justice’s pet antics would not be allowed on the Senate floor, the then-senator-elect released a statement acknowledging the decision.

“I told them they do not have to worry about Babydog on the Senate floor,” Justice said in part, per West Virginia outlet Wboy. “I knew and was aware, in fact, I said it during the campaign, that Babydog cannot be on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”

At the same time, however, Justice assured Babydog’s fans that the bulldog would accompany him to Capitol Hill “frequently.”