Senator Jim Justice, a West Virginia Republican who previously served as the state’s governor, has gone viral online after throwing a large party for his pet bulldog. The party drew a large crowd on Capitol Hill and backlash online. Video footage from TMZ reporter Charlie Cotton captures Justice's pooch, BabyDog, resplendent in a cowboy hat and red bandanna, being pulled in a carriage down a Capitol Hill hallway.
The hallway was lined with people singing happy birthday, many of whom were dressed in pink bandannas to match BabyDog. Cotton, speaking from behind the camera, joins in the singing before saying: "Wow, look at this, look at all the attendees for BabyDog’s birthday party." "All these people going to a dog’s birthday party. Don’t they have jobs?" Cotton says in the video, which has amassed over a million views on X.
A compilation clip of Babydog's birthday festivities was also shared to X, on the account @BabyDogJustice. The post, captioned "YEE HAW Best day rounding up all my fur-iends!", shows BabyDog's birthday festivities in more detail, including the dog being fed treats, posing for photos in front of a balloon arch and people with special birthday placards. Justice, who was the richest senator in the country as of 2025, according to Business Insider, shared in a post on X that Babydog’s actual birthday is still a few weeks away.
"Babydog’s birthday isn’t for a few more weeks, but we had to celebrate a little early with our friends on the Hill," Justice wrote. "She sure does have a lot of folks who love her, and Cathy and I are grateful for every one of them," he added. Justice did not disclose what he has planned for the dog’s official birthday.
Newsweek has contacted Justice’s office for comment outside of regular working hours via email. The clip quickly sparked backlash online, including from fellow Republicans. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, wrote in a post on X: "The Senate is doing this instead of passing Voter I.D." Representative Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, wrote: "The Senate threw a birthday party FOR A DOG while the SAVE America Act and 600+ other House-passed bills sit in limbo.
Inexcusable is an understatement." The MAGA influencer Scott Presler wrote in a post on X: "You aren’t committed to election security or you would be making budget reconciliation 3.0 & the SAVE America Act a priority. We are deeply disappointed in you." The conservative media account, Libs of TikTok, also joined in the criticism and highlighted the SAVE America Act. "The Senate is throwing massive parties for a dog’s birthday while refusing to pass the save america act Look at the resources that went into this taxpayer funded event for a senator’s dog So out of touch We just want voter id laws and secure elections," the account wrote in a post viewed over 120,000 times.
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