By Serena Maria Daniels
DETROIT (Reuters) - A former state legislator in Michigan who resigned last week after revelations that he and a fellow conservative Republican lawmaker had covered up their extramarital affair announced on Friday he will run to regain his former seat.
Former state Representative Todd Courser said he decided to file on Friday to run for the 82nd district seat after getting the go-ahead from his wife and children.
"My wife said 'yes run!'" Courser said on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).
Courser told Reuters he wanted to give voters in his district a chance to voice their opinion on whether he should serve in the legislature through their vote.
"People in my district should be able to weigh in. Without me on the ballot, that wasn't ever going to be fleshed out," Courser said.
"It was very difficult to have to tell my wife and then my children about my shortcomings," Courser added. "It was a very dark and difficult moment and unfortunately as a public figure, you really can't walk through that privately."
A spokesman for the Michigan secretary of state confirmed that Courser he had filed for the race. The Republican primary election is set for Nov. 3 and the general election is scheduled for March 8.
Former state Representative Cindy Gamrat, with whom Courser had an affair, said on Thursday she also had filed to run in the November primary to fill her own vacant seat after she was expelled from the legislature last week.
The affair was revealed in August when the Detroit News said recordings it had obtained showed Courser had devised a plan to distribute an email falsely claiming he had sex with a male prostitute. That claim, Courser has said, would have blunted the political impact of his actual affair if it were ever revealed.
The full House voted to remove Gamrat from office last Friday as police opened a criminal investigation into the use of tax funds to cover up the affair.
Courser resigned the same day following a legislative session centered on his possible expulsion. Courser and Gamrat both are part of the conservative Tea Party movement.
Courser and Gamrat apologized last week during a special House committee hearing into their use of staff members to try to cover up their affair.