Well, Jedidiah Duggar's political career may not have gotten off to a very promising start.

But at least he's playing the part of a politician by carrying on a secret affair!

Yes, as you're probably aware, at the ripe old age of 21, Jed decided to run for the Arkansas State House of Representatives this year.

Not only did he lose, he lost badly.

Jed was defeated by his Democratic opponent, Megan Godfrey, by a full 14 percentage points.

And considering she was a female Dem PhD candidate running in deep-red rural Arkansas, that's no mean feat.

Anyway, failed political careers are nothing new in the Duggar clan, and it seems that Jed is already moving on from his crushing loss.

And apparently, he's doing so with the help of a new female companion.

Rumors of Jed entering a courtship have been circulating ever since he joined Instagram back in March.

(In the past, Duggars were not permitted to join social media until after they had entered a coursthip, though the family seems to have eased up on those rules this year.)

Now, fans believe the 21-year-old has dropped a new hint that he's involved in a relationship in a recent Instagram Live posted by his sister, Jessa.

The clip shows Jed painting a pumpkin at the Fall Family Festival hosted on his parents' property in Tontitown, Arkansas.

(Yes, the Duggars property is so massive that it can be used to host a festival for the local community.)

"Are you going to paint one for your darling?" Jessa asks her brother at one point.

"Yeah," Jed replies before stopping and asking, "Wait, how did you know?"

The clip wasn't live for very long, but Duggar critics on Reddit caught wind of it, and they've been having a field day.

"Not surprised Jed is courting. I knew he’d be next. Especially after his devastating loss," one person wrote.

"Well he’s got to find a wife now so they can pretend he never ran for whatever he tried to be. Let’s cover up the loss with a COURTSHIP!" another added.

"The 'how did you know?' really makes it seem that way indeed," a third chimed in.

If you're a longtime fan of the family, then you know that courtship is a form of dating that comes with a strict set of rules and regulations.

The Duggars call it "dating with a purpose," and that purpose, of course, is getting married and popping out a whole army of babies.

No other forms of romantic entanglement are permitted, so if there's a young lady in Jed's life whom he refers to as his "darling," it seems certain that a courtship announcement is coming soon.

It's unclear why the Duggars have chosen to keep the relationship under wraps up to this point, but it's possible that they didn't want it to interfere with Jed's campaign.

View Slideshow: Duggar Courtship Rules: Do ANY Kids Actually Follow Them?

Or perhaps Jed didn't want his news to interfere with the recently-announced courtship of Justin Duggar and Claire Spivey.

Or maybe, as Duggar critics suspect, Jed has entered a courtship in order to draw attention away from his crushing political defeat.

You never know what's going on with this eternally sketchy family -- but we guess congratulations are in order!