MOREHEAD, Ky. — David Ermold, who was denied a marriage license by Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, lost the Democratic primary by more than 1,000 votes Tuesday evening, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Ermold rasid more than $200,000, but lost to Elwood Caudill, Jr., a 20-year employee of the county’s Property Valuation Administrator office and fourth generation Rowan County resident. The newspaper reported that Rowan County residents, including Caudill, had predicted a much tighter race.
“I didn’t know which way it was going to go,” Caudill told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday. “I just ran the best race I could.”
From the Herald-Leader:
Davis, the current county clerk and sole Republican candidate, shot into the national spotlight in 2015 and was jailed for five days when she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, including Ermold and his partner.
She will face Caudill in November’s general election.
Caudill ran against Davis in 2014 and said he lost by just 23 votes, the newspaper reported. Davis, at that time, was a registered Democrat. She switched her political affiliation in 2015.