19 Kids and Voting for Huckabee: Duggars Make Endorsement Official

Sorry, Rick Santorum, here's one celebrity endorsement that's going to Mike Huckabee.

Less than a week after officially announcing his candidacy for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has snatched up a key endorsement from his conservative Christian base - the Duggars.

In a post Tuesday on the Duggar Family Facebook page, patriarch Jim Bob made his endorsement official.

I know all of you are not political and many of you may be supporting someone else but I want to respectfully share our hearts with you about the 2016 presidential race.

Importantly he is a man of faith who is very wise, and will help get our nation back on track. Simply, he's a leader who will bring the moral clarity we need in the White House. Huckabee is the only candidate running for president who has successfully defeated the Clinton machine over and over again. The Duggar family asks all Republicans to join us in helping Governor Mike Huckabee become the next President of the United States of America.

Lest anyone think that wife Michelle isn't in step with her husband, a quote from the famous Matriarch sits prominently on the homepage of Huckabee's recently launched campaign website.

"Governor Huckabee is a man of faith who is very wise," she wrote. "And will help get our nation back on track."

If this seems like deja vu, it's probably because Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar issued similar endorsements of Huckabee during 2008 presidential bid. Back then, they only had 17 kids.

Given the conservative former Governor's positions against abortion, same-sex marriage and non-discrimination ordinances, the Duggar endorsement shouldn't come as a surprise to many.

Except Rick Santorum.

Although he has yet to throw his hat into the already crowded ring of rightwing GOP presidential hopefuls, Santorum enjoyed an endorsement from the Christian power couple during his 2012 bid for the presidency. Perhaps he should have announced his candidacy sooner.

In other Huckabee endorsement news, it was reported this week that 75-year-old action star Chuck Norris is also backing him.