The government has been shut down for more than two weeks with no end in sight. The Trump administration is trying to lay off thousands of federal workers. It’s also the sixth birthday of Sen. Jim Justice’s bulldog, Babydog.
Despite the dour mood around the Capitol, Justice’s office was in full celebration mode Wednesday, complete with birthday cakes and a line that wrapped around the fifth floor hallway of the Hart Senate Office Building for pictures with the senator and Babydog.
When asked about the optics of throwing a birthday party for a dog in the midst of a deadlocked and shutdown Congress, Justice posited that this might be the best time.
“This place needs to smile and be respectful of one another, and that’s what Babydog’s all about. I mean, she makes people smile, and she loves everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor, Black, white, God forbid, Republican or Democrat,” Justice told NOTUS.
Happy 6th Birthday @BabydogJustice ! pic.twitter.com/QptY8cnQ8t
— Kelly Phares (@kellyfphares) October 15, 2025
The party attracted Hill staffers from both parties, all of whom received a bulldog-shaped cake pop and an opportunity to sign a birthday card. It was an unexpected moment of joy and levity in what has been an otherwise depressing few weeks for the Senate.
“We’re not here to be in a contest. We’ve got the government shut down and people are out there really hurting, and I think it’s too much of a contest to me,” Justice said.
Justice said he paid for all of the party supplies personally and was not worried about the potential optics of the event.
“My dad used to tell me, ‘Son, if you know and the good Lord knows, that’s all that matters,’ and I do know,” Justice said. “I’m doing it because it’s Babydog’s birthday, and I love her to death.”
Even still, Justice was surprised by the turnout.
“I never expected in a million years all these people would come,” he said.
Once the party ended, the Senate voted on the Republican supported continuing resolution for the 9th time, and it failed again (for the 9th time). The good vibes from the Hart office building’s fifth floor clearly did not change anything on the Senate floor.