Huckabee, Cruz plan to meet with jailed Kentucky clerk
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two Republican presidential candidates planned jailhouse meetings Tuesday with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, raising her conservative-hero status as she remains behind bars over her refusal to give marriage licenses to gay couples.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz each said they would meet with Davis, who was jailed by a federal judge Thursday after defying several court orders. Her lawyers spent Labor Day weekend filing appeals in an effort to force her release, but she remains there on a contempt charge.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister who often reaches out to religious conservatives, says Davis is simply exercising her religious freedom by denying the marriage licenses.