The Democratic Party has one fewer member today, but it’s unlikely many party leaders are crying over the loss. Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, who was briefly jailed after refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has become a Republican because she felt the Democratic Party no longer represents her.
“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 in an interview. Davis confirmed her switch hours before she was scheduled to be honored at the Values Voters Summit, a conservative gathering in Washington. That is where Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, invited her and her husband, Joe, onto the stage and called her a “model of personal courage,” reports the Associated Press.
Although she has received support from several Republican politicians, she said the idea of campaigning for anyone is “kind of far-fetched.”
Davis blames Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear for her legal troubles because he has refused to call for a special session of the state Legislature that would allow lawmakers to give her an exemption to issuing marriage licenses, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. Davis’ mother was the Rowan County clerk for 37 years as a Democrat before Davis was elected to the position last fall.
