Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, has left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP, saying that the Democratic party abandoned her.
Speaking at the Family Research Council’s Value Voters Summit on Friday, Davis announced the switch, according to Liberty Counsel spokeswoman Charla Bansley. Liberty Counsel has represented Davis in court.
Davis stated, “I’ve always been a Democrat, but the party left me,” according to Fox News.
Kim Davis, a Rowan County clerk elected last fall as a Democrat, languished five days in jail after her blunt refusal to issue the same-sex marriage licenses. Her predecessor was her mother, who held the job for 37 years.
Although registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in Kentucky, Democrats in the state have felt increasingly alienated from their party as it has moved to the left. Since Barack Obama’s 2008 election, the GOP has gained 83,635 registered voters, the Democrats, 23,957. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win the state was Bill Clinton in 1996.