Jim Bob Duggar‘s likelihood of winning a state senate race in Arkansas just went down, drastically, due to his son’s conviction … this according to another member of the Duggar fam.

Derick Dillard — who’s married to JBD’s daughter and Josh‘s sister, Jill — tells TMZ … Josh’s guilty verdict in his child porn trial puts his father-in-law in a tough spot politically, and not just because of the obvious association to his son … but because of public past stances he’s taken on sex crimes. In Derick’s eyes, Jim Bob’s track record won’t help.

Take, for example, a policy JBD proposed on a now-defunct site of his when he ran for U.S. Senate in ’02, which talked about what should happen to somebody who rapes a woman. As you can see, he called for executing the perpetrator and keeping the baby alive.

It’s not apples to apples, comparing that to what Josh’s conviction for possessing a ton of child pornography — but in Derick’s eyes, it makes Jim Bob look hypocritical … because he doesn’t think his father-in-law would take as hard a stance now, in light of what’s happening to his own flesh and blood.

More relative to Josh’s situation is a bill JBD helped sponsor in 2001 — when he was in the state’s House of Reps. — calling for widening the categories of sex offenses to include “pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.” Derick believes Jim Bob will get grilled on the campaign trail for that one.

Big picture … Derick says Jim Bob’s come across as less than transparent or credible due to vague statements he made while Josh was under investigation.

Of course, Derick’s hardly a JBD fan to begin with. As you know, he and Jill have distanced themselves from the famous fam since 2017 … when Derick accused his father-in-law of screwing his kids out of money.

Still, DD admits Jim Bob could gut out a victory, due to his TV fame and name recognition/wealth — all of which could help him get past the PR nightmare of Josh.