Long-time Democrat Kim Davis found out who had her back when religious beliefs landed her in jail: Republicans. The experience moved her to switch parties.
The Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk, who spent five days in jail when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, told Reuters on Friday the decision was made last week after a lengthy discussion with her husband.
"My husband and I had talked about it for quite a while and we came to the conclusion that the Democratic Party left us a long time ago, so why were we hanging on?" she told Reuters from a hotel in Washington.
The 50-year-old was scheduled to attend a Family Research Council event at the Value Voters Summit late Friday.
During her five days in jail beginning Sept. 3, Davis received support from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Huckabee held a support rally outside the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky, Sept. 8.
Davis was was ordered detained under a ruling by U.S. District Judge David Bunning after she refused to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples.
"If somebody has to go to jail, I'm willing to go in her place. I believe that," Huckabee said Sept. 8, the Associated Press reported. "She has shown more courage than any politician I know. She not only said something, she was willing to put her life at risk."
Davis' switch now puts her in the ideological minority within her hometown. Democrats make up 65 percent of Rowan County's 14,000 registered voters, the New York Post reported Friday.
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