Joy-Anna (Duggar) Forsyth surprised some fans by voting for Republicans in the mid-term elections during early voting.
On Friday, two days before she turned 21 on Sunday, Forsyth shared a photo with two of her brothers. “We voted early!!” she wrote, alongside the hashtags “Go Vote” and “Republican.”
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This inspired a political discussion in Forsyth’s Instagram comments, from both sides of the aisle. Some called it a “middle finger” to fans.
“No Christian can vote republican. Not one. This is despicable,” one person wrote.
“How can you vote for Replicans [sic] when you portray your lives to be a certain kind of example. You don’t kiss or barely hug each other before marriage and you vote for a party that is supporting the opposite. They have no morals or ethics. Wow you guys are so fake. This proves it,” another person wrote.
“Good for you for letting your voice be heard and for voting Republican,” one fan wrote. “Ignore those who are negative Nellies and perpetuate nonsense about choosing the GOP. Great pic and thanks for sharing!”
Some pointed out that it should not be seen as a surprise that Duggar family members vote for Republicans. The family patriarch, Jim Bob Duggar, was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002 as a Republican. They also supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is a close family friend. Before Josh Duggar’s scandals in 2015, Republicans embraced the Duggars, notes the Washington Post.
Forsyth’s other recent Instagram posts have shown off her adorable son Gideon, who was born in February. On Oct. 24, she shared a gallery showing Gideon having fun with a pumpkin.
While Forsyth’s political beliefs fall in line with most of her other family members, she did break tradition by giving birth to Gideon at a hospital. In an episode of Counting On, Duggar explained that she needed an emergency C-section after 19 hours of labor.
“When the midwife came and told us that the baby was breech and that we had to go to the hospital, I was kind of discouraged because she had labored for so long and we were really hoping that we could just have a home birth,” husband Austin said in the episode. “But at the same time, I was ready to have this baby. Joy was tired and I’m just: ‘Let’s just do whatever it takes to get the baby here.’”
Duggar admitted that a C-section was her “greatest fear,” but later said, “By that point, I was really just like, ‘Whatever it takes I’m ready.’ I was exhausted. I was just ready to get the baby here in any way possible.”
