By Serena Maria Daniels
DETROIT (Reuters) - Two former Michigan representatives are seeking redemption, and their vacant seats, in a special Republican primary on Tuesday after they were forced out of the state legislature for their extramarital affair and its subsequent cover-up.
Cindy Gamrat, who was removed from her Allegan County seat, and Todd Courser, who resigned from his seat in Lapeer County to avoid being expelled, both filed their candidacies a week after their seats were vacated in September.
Both won seats in 2014 as Tea Party conservatives and devout Christians.
Gamrat has run a low-key come-back campaign against seven other candidates and is not expected to win. "I feel the best approach is to get out one-on-one, going to doors and connecting with voters, so that's what I've been doing," she told Reuters.
Courser, polling third in a field of 10, claims the affair was uncovered as part of an extortion scheme to get him to resign. He believes voters understand that he has been victimized.
"I have support that runs deep," he told Reuters. "You can throw a lot of blood and guts and that's an easy way to smear someone, but if people know you, it's going to be more difficult to do that."
Last week, the Michigan State Police concluded an investigation of the blackmail accusation. Prosecutors are expected to release information this week, which Courser hopes will reaffirm his extortion claim.
But voters aren't keen to give him a second chance, according to the leading Republican candidate in his district, Jan Peabody. "They're very angry that he's actually allowed to run, but also, they're more angry that he decided to run," Peabody told Reuters.
Gamrat is running without support from the party leadership.
"Obviously, anyone who can engage in an affair for months and at the same time carry on by still claiming to be 'with firm reliance on divine providence,' there are a lot of people who think she could be capable of anything," said Steve McNeal, chairman of the Allegan County GOP.
Tom Shields, a Lansing-based GOP political consultant, said that in their short time in the legislature, Gamrat and Courser resisted compromise, which alienated them from their caucus.
"They really had no good friends in the legislature that were willing to stand up for them and say they deserved a second chance," he said.
Mary Whiteford, who lost to Gamrat in the 2014 primary and is running against her again, says she routinely gets apologies from people who didn't vote for her then, when she knocks on doors.
"I feel like people just want to talk about it and I just listen and say there are so many good things to focus on," Whiteford told Reuters.