Anti-gay marriage county clerk Kim Davis to seek reelection in Kentucky

The Kentucky county clerk who was briefly jailed after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is running for reelection next year, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. 

Citing her personal beliefs, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis refused to give marriage licenses to gay couples following the 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Five couples sued her, and a judge ordered her to issue the licenses. Davis spent five days in jail after she still refused.

The legal battles resulted in nearly $225,000 in court fees, The Kentucky Herald-Leader reported, which the state was forced to pay.

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In response to her continued refusal to sign off on the marriage licenses, the Kentucky state legislature changed the law so clerks did not have to sign their names on the documents.

Davis made national headlines for her actions, garnering the praise of then-GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas). She later met Pope Francis at the White House, and was invited to President Trump’s first joint address to Congress early this year.

Davis was elected as a Democrat in 2014, but switched parties to become a Republican shortly after she made headlines. 2018’s election will be her first time facing the voters since the marriage license controversy.

Last month, she reportedly took her anti-gay marriage message across the Atlantic, campaigning for nine days in Romania in favor of a constitutional change to rule out same-sex spouses. The trip was organized by Liberty Counsel, a conservative American legal and advocacy group that represented Davis in her court proceedings.