Senator-elect Jim Justice’s team is clearing the air after it was reported earlier Tuesday that his famous pooch Babydog was banned from the Senate floor.
“Even though I wasn’t in D.C. today, I got the most headlines,” said Babydog and her team in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. “However, I hope that we really focus on bringing the things to this nation to fix our problems.”
Axios reported that Babydog Justice, the unofficial mascot of Justice’s campaign for Senate, was banned from the Senate floor. However, the Senator-elect has corrected the record.
In their reporting, Axios claimed that Justice asked if he could bring his pup on the Senate floor.
BABYDOG GOES TO WASHINGTON: WEST VIRGINIA’S JUSTICE FLIPS SENATE SEAT RED
Babydog, dog of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice appears onstage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Justice’s office clarified in an email that “the Senator-Elect has never had any intention of asking about or attempting to bring Baby Dog to the floor of the Senate.”
The confusion began over a well-meaning joke overheard during Tuesday’s Senate orientation between Senators-elect touring the Capitol grounds.
One unidentified Senator-elect asked if children were allowed on the Senate floor. It was clarified that babies up to one year are allowed, in accordance with rules in the House of Representatives.
According to Justice’s office, Senator-elect Moreno of Ohio then asked in jest if dogs were allowed to visit the Senate floor. Dogs are regularly allowed on Capitol premises, including elected officials’ offices, but not on the Senate floor.
ALL ABOUT BABYDOG: THE GOVERNOR’S PET THAT STOLE THE SHOW AT THE RNC
At no point during this interaction did Senator-elect Justice request to bring the popular pooch Babydog alongside him to the Senate floor, Justice’s office clarified.
The celebrity hound first made waves on a national scale over the summer at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where she joined her dad, then-Governor Jim Justice, in a dog-sized chair on stage.
Babydog sitting in her chair at the RNC. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
“I know that a lot of you want to meet my little buddy,” said Justice. “So if Babydog could come on out here.”
She has been a fixture in West Virginia politics since she was given to Justice by his children for Christmas in 2019.
Gov. of West Virginia Jim Justice speaks accompanied by Babydog on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
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“Babydog will be with me frequently in Washington, and we welcome everyone to come by my office and say hello and meet Babydog when she is there,” said Senator-elect Justice in a release. “Just like she has loved and made so many people smile in West Virginia, she will do that in Washington too.”