DETROIT – Cindy Gamrat has filed to run in the special election for Michigan's 80th congressional district, which is the same seat she was expelled from last week.
The conservative Republican from Plainwell was expelled from the House after an affair and cover-up with fellow Republican Todd Courser, who ended up resigning from his House seat. An investigation found the two used state resources to try to cover-up the affair.
Gamrat said her voters' voices are important to her and she wants to keep fighting for their voices in Lansing.
"I feel confident in my record ... it will be (the voters') choice if they want to see that record going forward," said Gamrat.
She will be one of five candidates running for the seat. The special election is scheduled for November.
Gamrat tells Local 4 she's discussed running for her former seat with her husband and children and they're on board. When pressed on whether she has a good chance of winning her seat back, she won't speculate.
She also isn't too ruffled by negative feedback on her decision to pursue her former House seat. The Editorial Boards of both the Kalamazoo Gazette and the Grand Rapids Press published a one word editorial on her decision to do this: no.
"With all respect to the editorials, they're not the voters of Allegan County and those are the people who deserve to have their voices heard," she said
Courser said he has not made a decision on whether he will run again.