A north Georgia Republican who votes “no” more than any other state legislator held on to his House seat Tuesday despite opposition from powerful members of his own party.

State Rep. Matt Gurtler, a 29-year-old general contractor from Tiger, defeated Mickey Cummings, a farmers market manager, in Tuesday's Republican Party primary election for House District 8, according to unofficial results.

FOLLOW LIVE: Primary election results

Gurtler was opposed by Gov. Nathan Deal, House Speaker David Ralston and other prominent Republican legislators. Gurtler, an anti-government conservative, frequently voted against Republican priorities like state budgets and education funding.

Gurtler said his votes reflected his belief in small government.

He voted against bills on the House floor 40 percent of the time, a higher rate than any other Republican or Democrat in the Georgia General Assembly over the last two years.

There’s no Democratic Party in the race, meaning Gutler doesn’t face any opponent in the Nov. 6 general election. He was first elected in 2016.

About the Author

Keep Reading

A Norfolk-Southern train travels south close to the Mitchell Street bridge in the Gulch Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga., May 28, 2013. The Norfolk-Southern route runs north-south through downtown beneath the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), through the Gulch, and then onward to parallel MARTA's Red/Gold lines south of downtown. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com

Featured

About 4,300 graduating Emory students wait for the commencement ceremony to begin on May 8, 2023. The school is expecting to see a multimillion-dollar increase on its endowment tax liability after recent legislation. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: TNS