{"id":2573722,"date":"2026-02-25T19:17:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-justice-of-babydog-fame-offers-to-take-over-tillis-dog-parade\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:19:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:19:41","slug":"jim-justice-of-babydog-fame-offers-to-take-over-tillis-dog-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-justice-of-babydog-fame-offers-to-take-over-tillis-dog-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Justice, of Babydog fame, offers to take over Tillis dog parade"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjim-justice-of-babydog-fame-offers-to-take-over-tillis-dog-parade%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2573722&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Sen. jim Justice of West Virginia, famous for his dog Babydog, attended the final Capitol Hill dog parade hosted by Sen. Thom Tillis and privately hinted he would take over the hosting duties if Tillis hands over the reins next year. Justice paraded Babydog thru the Hart Office Building and said \u201cIf Senator Tillis wants to pass the torch on to me, I\u2019d take it in a second,\u201d while joking that he would co-host the parade and serve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-year-of-homecooking-led-me-to-make-mac-cheetos-and-mountain-dew-chicken-on-the-same-day\/\" title=\"A Year of Homecooking Led Me To Make Mac &amp; Cheetos and Mountain Dew Chicken on the Same Day\">chicken nuggets<\/a> to attendees.Tillis, who is retiring after two terms in January, kept expectations cautious, saying there\u2019s time to negotiate a successor and noting that Justice is \u201con the short list.\u201d The event itself felt like a changing of the guard on Capitol Hill, with Tillis handing off the spotlight as Babydog drew the loudest cheers. The story also highlights Babydog\u2019s celebrity status and past Capitol Hill moments, including a themed Mardi Gras parade and other family lore surrounding the dog.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Capitol Tea: Jim Justice, of Babydog fame, offers to take over Tillis dog parade<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2516201\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jim-justice\/\">Jim Justice<\/a> (R-WV) answered the question on everyone&rsquo;s mind when he attended the final dog parade of Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/thom-tillis\/\">Thom Tillis&rsquo;s<\/a> (R-NC) career in the Senate: Will he take over as host when Tillis leaves next year?<\/p>\n<p>That question came up repeatedly as Justice paraded his politically famous pet, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3086379\/rnc-buzz-babydog-trump-ear-bandages-convention\/\">Babydog<\/a>, through the atrium of the Hart Office Building on Wednesday, and his answer was a decided &ldquo;yes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4472553\/fetterman-slob-suit-state-of-the-union\/\">Fetterman admits he dresses &#8216;like a slob&#8217; but wore suit to &#8216;respect&#8217; State of the Union<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4472327\/john-thune-floats-lifeline-dhs-unpaid-workers-partial-shutdown\/\">Thune floats White House lifeline for unpaid DHS workers as shutdown drags on<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4471909\/takeaways-hearing-surgeon-general-nominee-casey-means\/\">Takeaways from the intense hearing with Trump surgeon general nominee Casey Means<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;If Senator Tillis wants to pass the torch on to me, I&rsquo;d take it in a second,&rdquo; Justice told me, sitting next to a wagon carrying Babydog, the hefty bulldog who showed up at the parade with beads and streamers to match the Mardi Gras theme.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Babydog attends a Mardi Gras parade on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with her owner, Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV). (David Sivak\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3490259\/capitol-tea-jim-justice-babydog-siblings-thom-tillis-parade\/\"><strong>CAPITOL TEA: BABYDOG&rsquo;S 23 SIBLINGS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Justice, who initially appeared taken aback by the question, was careful not to step on Tillis&rsquo;s toes &mdash; the two have never spoken about a succession plan, and it was his first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pope-francis-concedes-to-trudeau-apologizes-for-catholic-churchs-role-in-canadas-forced-assimilation-of-indigenous-children\/\" title=\"Pope Francis Concedes To Trudeau, Apologizes For Catholic Church\u2019s Role In Canada\u2019s Forced Assimilation Of Indigenous Children\">time attending<\/a> the event since he became a senator in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If he wants to come back and keep doing it, that&rsquo;s great, too,&rdquo; Justice said of Tillis, who is retiring after two terms in January.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Justice joked that he would &ldquo;co-host&rdquo; the parade with Babydog if he were asked to take the reins and said he&rsquo;d have one innovation: &ldquo;We&rsquo;d have chicken nuggets for everybody,&rdquo; a reference to Babydog&rsquo;s favorite food.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV), right, stands with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who hosted the final dog parade of his Senate career Wednesday on Capitol Hill. (David Sivak\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tillis, for his part, did not let the speculation get too out of hand as reporters crowded around Justice, telling us there was time to &ldquo;negotiate&rdquo; his successor and that Justice was &ldquo;on the short list.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The event did feel an awful lot like a changing of the guard, however, as Tillis, who&rsquo;s hosted the event since 2017, gave Justice a hearty handshake and sported a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >medallion necklace adorned<\/a> with Babydog&rsquo;s face.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) shows off a Babydog necklace complete with a medallion imprinted with her face. (David Sivak\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;I mean, he&rsquo;s got the most recognizable dog in Washington, D.C.,&rdquo; Tillis said.<\/p>\n<p>Tillis, megaphone in hand, had just finished em-ceeing a procession of pooches that staffers were invited to bring to the Hart lobby on Wednesday afternoon, breaking the news to the gathered spectators that this would be his final parade.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3483591\/capitol-tea-tim-burchett-skateboard-fetterman-wardrobe\/\"><strong>CAPITOL TEA: TIME BURCHETT&rsquo;S SKATEBOARDING DREAM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tillis had previously told me he would likely do another event in October, when he normally hosts a &ldquo;Bipawtisan Howloween&rdquo; parade, but said his team had called an &ldquo;audible&rdquo; and decided to scrap the plan given how close it would be to the November election.<\/p>\n<p>Babydog received the loudest cheers of any dog on the parade route Wednesday and has something of a cult following on Capitol Hill. Last year, Justice hosted a no-expense-spared birthday party at his Senate office that included <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2025\/10\/15\/babydog-birthday-draws-capitol-hill-crowd\/\">dog pops and cakes with her face on them<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice offers to host Tillis&#8217;s dog parade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2651,"featured_media":2573723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tillis-2.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[35298,74595,74594,5894,7122],"class_list":["post-2573722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-babydog","tag-dogparade","tag-jimjustice","tag-politics","tag-tillis"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tillis-2.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573726,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573722\/revisions\/2573726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2573723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}