Less than a day after telling voters to “turn down the rhetoric” and saying voters would not see him “posting about” his opponents, State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) returned to Facebook on Monday morning with a post mocking his Republican primary challenger as “the Arizona Kid” and accusing Democrats of running a “reverse psy op” against his campaign.

The two posts went up roughly 21 hours apart on Click’s public Facebook page in the closing week of the May 5 Republican primary for Ohio House District 88, where Click faces Tiffin business owner Eric Watson.

Sunday: ‘Turn down the rhetoric’

Click’s Sunday post opened with a reference to Saturday night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman was apprehended outside the ballroom and President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and members of the Cabinet were evacuated. One Secret Service agent was struck in his bullet-resistant vest.

“I’m grateful that the president, his cabinet, the media and all that were in that room are safe,” Click wrote. “This is just another reminder that we ALL need to turn down the rhetoric. Policy, qualifications and etc are fair game. But Republicans, Democrats and social media all need to stop with the character assassinations and false narratives. Cheap shots and lies make you a worse candidate not a better one.”

Click went on to describe his own campaign approach in unambiguous terms.

“Personally, I am more focused on who I am and why I am best qualified rather than vilifying the character of my opponents,” he wrote. “That is why you don’t see me posting about them, or talking about them in my lit. I only talk about my policy, experience, and legislation.”

The post closed with a direct exhortation: “If you cannot run on your own character and reputation rather than. Diminishing your opponent, you might not deserve to win.”

Monday: ‘The Arizona Kid’

About 21 hours later, Click posted again. The opening line: “With one week till election it’s definitely crazy time.”

Click claimed he had received a text from “a Democrat group posing as a conservative organization” attacking Watson as “too conservative.” He provided no screenshot, organization name, or quoted text from the alleged message. He then offered a theory:

“The Democrats have openly expressed support for my opponent through multiple venues not because they like him but because they are confident that they can beat him in the fall but they know from experience that they cannot beat me. So they are trying to use some weird form of reverse psy op campaign to convince republicans to elect him in the primary so that they can have a chance in November.”

The post then attacked Watson directly: “Anyone who has lived in the district for the last six years, (which already excludes the Arizona Kid running against me), knows that I am the consistent, common sense conservative that fights for our district and the only one that can and will win in November.”

Click attached a three-panel cartoon meme depicting a stereotyped “Democrat” figure who pretends to be a conservative in one panel and pretends to be a liberal in another, captioned: “THE TRUTH: ‘I’M A DEMOCRAT. I JUST ADAPT TO FIT THE AUDIENCE.’”

The ‘Arizona Kid’ framing

Click’s “Arizona Kid” nickname for Watson, and his framing of his opponent as a recent arrival to the district, does not match Watson’s documented biography.

According to Watson’s campaign website, he was raised in Seneca County, attended Mohawk Schools, and graduated from Tiffin Calvert High School. He earned an Aviation degree from Sinclair Community College and degrees in International Studies and Aviation Technology from Wright State University. After the 2008 recession affected the aviation industry, Watson and his wife Emily moved to Arizona in 2011, where he started a custom hat business. They returned to Ohio in 2022.

According to Watson’s Ballotpedia profile, his family has been a part of the Seneca County community since they first settled on Honey Creek in 1832. Watson graduated from Calvert High School in 2001, indicating a Seneca County residency of approximately 28 years before his 2011 move to Arizona, plus the four years since his 2022 return.

Click himself moved to Ohio in 2006 from Indiana. According to his campaign biography, Click served as an associate pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Richmond, Indiana, and later as a lead pastor at a second Indiana church before being recruited that year to lead Fremont Baptist Temple in Sandusky County. As of 2026, Click has lived in Ohio for approximately 20 years.

Click’s post sets the threshold for district legitimacy at six years — a window that excludes Watson’s recent return while leaving out the roughly 28 years Watson lived in the district before his Arizona business. Seneca County Board of Elections records previously reported by TiffinOhio.net show Watson voted only once in recent district elections, in the 2024 general election — a separate point about his recent voting history that does not address the “fresh arrival” framing.

The opponent Click praised

Sunday’s civility post did not name Watson. It did, however, single out the Democratic candidate Click would face in November if he wins next Tuesday’s primary.

“So far, I have to give my Democratic opponent credit for doing the same,” Click wrote. “While I don’t know him well, he has stuck to policy rather than character assassination and baseless attacks. I respect that about him.”

Click did not name Aaron Jones, but Jones — a Tiffin City Councilman, Army veteran, and manufacturing supervisor — is the only Democrat on the May 5 ballot in District 88.

The candidate Click did not extend that respect to is Watson, the candidate Click is actually running against on Tuesday.

Election context

Early voting in the Republican primary opened April 7. Election Day is Tuesday, May 5. The winner of the GOP primary will face Jones in the November 3 general election for the District 88 seat representing Seneca and Sandusky counties.