If you’re a fan of the Duggar clan, you’re aware that Jim Bob Duggar is a man with a lot of irons in the fire.
These days, reality TV may be the father of 19’s most lucrative venture (as well as the one that seems to take up most of his time), but Jim Bob was feeding a whole lot of mouths long before he became famous.
And he learned early on that he would need to employ both his wits and his work ethic if he was to be able to meet the needs of his massive family.
It helps that Jim Bob is a man of many skill sets.
He started out as a real estate agent, and then apparently decided that that notoriously smarmy and competitive field wasn’t smarmy and competitive enough.
Jim Bob entered the political arena in 1999, running a successful campaign for a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he served until 2002.
That same year, he launched an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the US Senate in 2002, getting trounced by Senator Tim Hutchinson, who more than tripled Duggar’s vote tally.
Jim Bob’s next to run for the Arkansas State Senate.
He lost again (this time, by a much narrower margin), and like that, his short-lived political career had come to an end.
By this time, Jim Bob and wife Michelle had 16 mouths to feed, and fortune smiled when the outlandish size of their brood attracted the attention of reality television producers.
In 2008, Jim Bob and Michelle made their first national television appearance in a televised one-hour special that aired on TLC and Discovery Health.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The audience response was such that the Duggars were granted a full series, then titled 17 Kids and Counting.
Even a revolting child molestation scandal wasn’t enough to turn away the family’s most devoted viewers and the Duggars remain on the air despite multiple revelations of criminal activity.
As a result of his family’s surprising ongoing popularity, Jim Bob is currently worth an estimated $ 3.6 million.
But for all the wealth he’s accumulated, Jim Bob’s greatest aspiration – real political clout – has remained elusive.
The Duggars relationship with Mike Huckabee has been a source of controversy over the years, but the only race in which they openly endorsed him – the 2008 Republican presidential primaries – was an embarrassment for the former Arkansas governor.
Since then, the Duggars have endorsed two other candidates (Rick Santorum in the 2012 GOP presidential primaries and Ken Cuccinelli for governor of Virginia in 2013), both of whom were defeated soundly.
Since then, the Duggars seem to have taken the hint, and while they remain active in their endorsement of certain far-right political agendas, they’ve refrained from further endorsements.
When compared with the net worths of other Duggar men, Jim Bob is clearly still top dog.
But as time as the family’s chief breadwinner may soon come to a close.
Fans were upset when Jim Bob and Michelle appeared on Counting On last season after agreeing to keep their distance from the show due to their involvement in covering up the Josh Duggar sex scandals.
It’s one of many signs that Duggar fans are hoping to forget about the older generation (and Josh) and focus on 18 of Jim Bob and Michelle’s 19 kids.
But you can be sure that no matter what happens, Jim Bob will still be pulling the strings and lining his pockets behind the scenes.
