(CN) – A gay man denied a marriage license by Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis finished a distant second in the Democratic primary for her office on Tuesday, despite raising over $200,000 for his campaign.
David Ermold, an assistant English professor at the University of Pikeville, sued Davis after he and his partner were denied a marriage license in 2015.
On Tuesday, Ermold finished second among four candidates, losing to Elwood Caudill Jr. by over 1,000 votes.
Ermold garnered 879 votes to Caudill’s 1,928, with 100 percent of the votes being reported.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after 2015’s historic Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, and was jailed for five days after being held in contempt.
Davis ran unopposed as a Republican, having switched from the Democratic Party in 2015, and will seek re-election against Caudill in November.
Ermold raised an unprecedented $200,000 during his campaign, mostly from out-of-state donors, including several Hollywood celebrities such as Amy Schumer and Susan Sarandon.
For comparison, incumbent Davis raised just $16,000 for the 2014 primary and general election combined.
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