Jim Bob Duggar’s run for Arkansas State Senate has come to an end. The former Counting On star lost by a landslide when voters headed to the polls on Tuesday, just days after his son, Josh Duggar, was found guilty of two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography. Former city councilor Colby Fulfer, who is chief of staff for the city of Springdale, instead won the Republican nomination in the special primary election.
Duggar and Fulfer had been among four Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the state Senate seat, which was left vacant following the resignation of Republican Sen. Lance Eads. The two other candidates included Edge Nowlin, a retired IBM engineer, and Steve Unger, a retired U.S. Navy captain. Poll results from Tuesday showed that voters favored Fulfer over all three other candidates, with Fulfer earning over 46% of the vote. Unger won 31% and Nowlin 6%. Duggar, meanwhile, earned just 15% of the vote.
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The former 19 Kids and Counting star first announced in October that he was putting his name in the running for the Republican nomination for Arkansas Senate. Duggar made the announcement on the family’s official Facebook page, noting that Northwest Arkansas is where he and wife Michelle Duggar “have raised our 20 children. It’s where we’ve grown our small businesses. It’s where we’ve built a life centered around our faith, family, and friends.” Duggar said that “it’s important to us to give back and to help others in every way we can,” going on to share that he felt called back to the political sphere because “these are unprecedented times in our nation.”
“The foundational principles that have made our nation great are under threat like never before,” Duggar concluded. “Now more than ever, we need a bold voice that is pro-family, pro-business, pro-gun and pro-life. It’s time for conservatives to demand courageous leadership that puts Arkansas families, jobs, and our constitutional liberties first. I look forward to being your voice in the Arkansas State Senate.”
Prior to his 2021 run for Arkansas State Senate, Duggar served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. During his time in the House, Duggar worked on several bills dealing with sexual assault, in January 2001 co-sponsoring a bill to add more categories to the list of sexual offenses in Arkansas’ Sex and Child Offender Registration Act. In 2002, Duggar ran for U.S. Senate, challenging Republican Sen. Tim Hutchison in a primary in a campaign that was ultimately unsuccessful.
