Getty Mike Huckabee offers to go to jail for Kim Davis

Republicans rallied around Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis on Tuesday for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, with longshot presidential contender Mike Huckabee going so far as to wish he could go to jail in her stead.

“If somebody needs to go to jail then I'm willing to go in her place and I mean that because I'm tired of watching people being just harassed because they believe something of their faith,” the former Arkansas governor said as he stood next to Davis outside the detention center.


Davis was released by a federal judge on Tuesday after about a week behind bars for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Her case has become cause celebre among Christian evangelicals, setting off a fierce debate on the campaign trail about religious freedoms and discrimination.

Indeed, Huckabee wasn’t the only conservative, Christian leader to join her, but he did steal the show, speaking multiple times and standing right next to Davis and her lawyers in front of national television cameras.

“We we cannot criminalize the Christian faith or anybody's faith in this country,” Huckabee said to loud cheers from the crowd.

Ted Cruz, whose father is a pastor and who also claims evangelical voters as his base, Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin appeared at the event too, but at pivotal moments Huckabee was the one next to Davis holding the mic.

"I just want to give God the glory," Davis said. "His people have rallied and you are a strong people! We serve a living God who knows exactly where each and every one of us is at. Just keep on pressin'. Don't let down. Because He is here."

Huckabee then took the stage again and continued to warn that Davis' story could just be the beginning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your prayers have been answered, Kim will tonight go home," Huckabee said. "She will be with her family. She will sleep in her own bed. But all of us need to ask, who's next? Your pastor? The head of a school? Who's next?"

While other clerks around the nation have resisted the Supreme Court's ruling in June that afforded same-sex marriage rights, Davis, a Democrat and elected official, has become a symbolic and divisive figure due to the vigor with which she has fought court orders. While Huckabee and Cruz have rallied around Davis, saying she's the one being discriminated against, others have taken a more moderate stance, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Addressing Huckabee's planned visit on Tuesday, Christie remarked that politicians should not "grandstand" or "play politics" on issues like this.

"What we should do is try to solve problems. And see, this is part of the problem with Washington, quite frankly. And this is why we need term limits for these guys," the Republican governor told "Fox and Friends."

Bush, speaking to a town hall last week, also did not offer a full-throated defense of Davis. "[Davis] is sworn to uphold the law and it seems to me there ought to be common ground, there ought to be big enough space for her to act on her conscience and for, now that the law is the law of the land, for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is," he said.

Trump, meanwhile, appeared to defer to the courts, saying last week, "You have to go with it. The decision's been made, and that is the law of the land."

As her case plays out on the trail, Davis is continuing her fight in the judicial system.

Her lawyers filed a motion Monday for Gov. Steve Beshear to intervene on her behalf, but the Democratic governor has refused to do so, telling CNN that it is a "matter between her and the courts."

“Numerous errors have been committed in the trial proceedings in the district court, and so we’ve taken steps to address each one of those in turn. Most recently, yesterday we filed an emergency motion for an injunction pending one of those appeals seeking what Governor Beshear of Kentucky should have granted to Kim a long time ago, and that’s an accommodation of her religious conscience," said Roger Gannam, one of Davis' lawyers, in an interview with CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday.

Accommodating religious conscience is the law in Kentucky, Gannam added, "including for elected officials." Davis' lawyers have motioned for Beshear to allow her name to be taken off the licenses and permit her deputies to issue them, but removing her name from the licenses would require the legislature to pass a law to that effect. The legislature, however, does not reconvene until January, and Beshear has said he would not call a special session because it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.