WHITE LAKE — Mike Kowall (R-White Lake), who was elected to the state Senate last November, will run for Congress in 2012 in a bid to replace U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia.

McCotter is giving up his seat in the 11th Congressional District, which was recently re-drawn, in a bid to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. President in 2012. 

Kowall will turn 60 in September and represents a district that includes Milford, White Lake, West Bloomfield, part of Northville, Wixom, South Lyon, Walled Lake and other cities. The district boundaries in regards to seats in Congress and for state House and Senate seats are re-drawn every 10 years and will change in 2012. 

The new district boundaries, which Kowall said will include virtually his entire state Senate territories, have yet to be approved by Gov. Rick Snyder, however, although he is expected to do so.

Kowall will not have to give up his state Senate term to run for Congress since it is four years long.  His campaign website is KowallforCongress.com. Kowall is a small business owner who is perhaps best known for overseeing legislative hearings on the new Detroit-Canada bridge.