Who is Babydog Justice? Meet the English bulldog charming RNC attendees in Milwaukee

People who tuned in to broadcast coverage of Tuesday evening's program at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee got an unexpected treat during a speech from West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice, a member of a prominent coal mining family who's now running for U.S. Senate, told the crowd, "We become totally unhinged if Donald Trump is not elected in November."

Then the camera angle widened, bringing a short and stout bulldog into frame, tongue out, appearing to listen attentively to her owner's words.

That's Babydog Justice. And she's something of a star.

Four-year-old Babydog, a 60-pound English bulldog, was a gift from Justice's children in 2019, the Associated Press has reported. On Tuesday night, the audience gathered in Fiserv Forum chanted her name before she trotted onstage, according to the Washington Post, and took her place in her own black leather chair.

Babydog was rising to fame in her home state far in advance of her appearance in Milwaukee.

In 2021, she was the official mascot of Justice's statewide campaign to encourage West Virginians to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the "Do It For Babydog" sweepstakes. The governor spent more than $23 million on the campaign, which was criticized by some for the expense, the state's Register-Herald reported.

"If you won't do it for me, if you won't do it for your family, you've got to get vaccinated for Babydog," he's quoted as saying on the campaign website, which prominently features a sketch of the pudgy pup. "She wants you vaccinated so badly."

She made her first appearance in a briefing in the leadup to that year's Super Bowl, the site says, in which the message was there was no need for people to gather for large parties for the game "because Babydog already knew what was going to happen." (She went on to "correctly predict" that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would score 31 points in victory, the site says.)

In 2022, in response to a tweet from actress Bette Midler that referenced West Virginians being "poor, illiterate and strung-out" in a dig at U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, Justice held up Babydog's rear end to the cameras at the end of his State of the State address and said, "Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there: Kiss her heinie."

And earlier this year, a bulldog of Babydog's likeness appeared in a mural in West Virginia's state capitol beside other images chronicling the state's artistic traditions. Justice told reporters that he'd been told the dog in the painting is not necessarily Babydog, but perhaps her "20th grandma," according to the Associated Press. Since word of the mural's English bulldog took off on social media, West Virginia Watch reporter Caity Coyne has been posting photos on X (formerly Twitter) of Babydog photoshopped into other famous paintings, including Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and Grant Wood's "American Gothic." (This author hopes she doesn't stop.)

Babydog has been a hallmark of Justice's campaign for the U.S. Senate, appearing on his campaign website outfitted in a pair of bright yellow goggles. "She wags her tail in approval that Jim is the right person for the job," the site says.

It appears that Babydog had a good time in the spotlight on Tuesday, bringing a little levity to a fraught time in American politics. On Babydog's X account — which reports that her favorite things are Justice, "Wendy's nuggets, riding shotgun in dad's Suburban, and napping" — a post reads: "I enjoyed meeting so many of you at the GOP convention! Thank you for the treats, the pets and all the photos!"

Maybe she'll have time to visit one of Milwaukee's dog-friendly patios or Salty Paws Milwaukee — yes, that's an ice cream shop and bakery for dogs — before she heads back home to the Mountain State.

Madeline Heim is a Report for America corps reporter who writes about environmental issues in the Mississippi River watershed and across Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who is Babydog Justice, the dog onstage at RNC in Milwaukee