Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) answered the question on everyone’s mind when he attended the final dog parade of Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) career in the Senate: Will he take over as host when Tillis leaves next year?
That question came up repeatedly as Justice paraded his politically famous pet, Babydog, through the atrium of the Hart Office Building on Wednesday, and his answer was a decided “yes.”
“If Senator Tillis wants to pass the torch on to me, I’d take it in a second,” 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.
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Justice, who initially appeared taken aback by the question, was careful not to step on Tillis’s toes — the two have never spoken about a succession plan, and it was his first time attending the event since he became a senator in 2025.
“If he wants to come back and keep doing it, that’s great, too,” Justice said of Tillis, who is retiring after two terms in January.
Still, Justice joked that he would “co-host” the parade with Babydog if he were asked to take the reins and said he’d have one innovation: “We’d have chicken nuggets for everybody,” a reference to Babydog’s favorite food.
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 “negotiate” his successor and that Justice was “on the short list.”
The event did feel an awful lot like a changing of the guard, however, as Tillis, who’s hosted the event since 2017, gave Justice a hearty handshake and sported a medallion necklace adorned with Babydog’s face.
“I mean, he’s got the most recognizable dog in Washington, D.C.,” Tillis said.
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.
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Tillis had previously told me he would likely do another event in October, when he normally hosts a “Bipawtisan Howloween” parade, but said his team had called an “audible” and decided to scrap the plan given how close it would be to the November election.
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 dog pops and cakes with her face on them.
