The English bulldog had never been featured prominently in West Virginia history. It has now.
Gov. Jim Justice’s 4-year-old pure breed Babydog joined the ranks of Abraham Lincoln, Civil War soldiers and odes to Appalachian folk music in new murals under the golden dome of the state Capitol last week, alongside other state cultural symbols. Tucked into a mural about artistic traditions, the dog sits placidly between a banjo player and an artist painting the Seneca Rocks, one of the state’s best-known natural landmarks, in West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest.
Babydog made another memorable appearance at the Capitol in 2022, when the governor hoisted her up during his State of the State address and pointed her rear end at the camera.
Days earlier, singer and actress Bette Midler, on what was then Twitter, had called West Virginians “poor, illiterate and strung out” after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., refused to support a bill promoted by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.
“Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there: Kiss her heinie,” Justice said to a standing ovation from the crowd, which included state Supreme Court justices and members of the Legislature.
Justice, a Republican now running to succeed Manchin, has made Babydog a minor celebrity in West Virginia during his two terms as governor.
