Davis, 50, said her beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevent her from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She was a longtime Democrat in Rowan County in eastern Kentucky.
"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 at a hotel in Washington, where she attended a Family Research Council event.
Davis was jailed on September 3 for refusing to comply with US District Judge David Bunning's order to issue licenses in line with a Supreme Court ruling in June that made gay marriage legal across the United States.
Davis' office is now issuing licenses which removed her name and title, along with the name of the county. Davis, who returned to work on September 14, said she does not foresee a problem with the altered licenses, but critics have questioned their validity.
"I don't think there should be much of an issue and the judge didn't have any problem accepting the licenses that were issued when I was incarcerated, which had been altered, so I don't see that there should be an issue," she said.
Davis, who spent five days behind bars, said she is willing to return to jail if Judge Bunning takes issue with the altered licenses.
— Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) September 25, 2015
Her unwavering stance on gay marriage has won support from conservative Republicans, including presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. On Friday, however, she called the idea of campaigning for Republicans "kind of farfetched."
Davis said the idea she should quit as clerk due to her religious beliefs was "absurd," adding that the Supreme Court's decision does not change the Kentucky law banning gay marriage.
— Teigan Reamsbottom (@teiganish) September 25, 2015
Critics of Davis' stance on same-sex marriage have pointed out that the clerk has been married four times to three different men. She has two children, twins, who were born five months following her first divorce. Her third husband is the biological father of the twins, who were adopted by her second husband.
