State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) was quietly removed from Vivek Ramaswamy’s official endorsements page after TiffinOhio.net reporting — then scrambled back onto it within hours of the outlet documenting the change.
Click’s name disappeared from vivekforohio.com/endorsements/ on April 11, according to Web Archive snapshots reviewed by TiffinOhio.net. The removal came after TiffinOhio.net published two articles on April 9: one reporting that Ramaswamy’s campaign was actively promoting the endorsement of state Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria), who was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor female relative, and a companion piece examining resurfaced video of Click describing conversations with young girls about their sexual experiences during Ohio House testimony.
Both Click and Creech were removed. A Web Archive snapshot from April 11 — two days after TiffinOhio.net’s articles — confirmed both names were gone.
On Monday, TiffinOhio.net published an article documenting the removals. Within approximately two hours, Click’s name reappeared on the page.
“Greatly exaggerated”
Click addressed the situation on Facebook shortly after his name was restored, posting a screenshot of himself back on the endorsements page with a grinning emoji.
“Rumors that I have been removed from a list of endorsements Vivek Ramaswamy are greatly exaggerated,” Click wrote, linking to the updated page.
The post did not address why his name had been absent from the page, who removed it, or who restored it. Click did not explain the Web Archive snapshots confirming the removal.
Creech’s name, meanwhile, remains absent from the endorsements page as of Monday afternoon. Neither the Ramaswamy campaign nor Creech has publicly addressed the removal.
An enthusiastic endorser
Click had been among the most vocal supporters of the Ramaswamy-McColley ticket. In January 2026, when Ramaswamy selected Ohio Senate President Rob McColley as his running mate, Click told The Daily Signal: “Out of a crowd of super qualified candidates, Vivek made a strong pick for L.G. Rob McColley makes a great ticket even greater.”
He added that “the future of Ohio grew just a little bit brighter tonight” and called McColley “a proven leader who we know will bring results because he already has a history of doing so.”
In April 2025, Click posted on X after Ramaswamy visited Sandusky County: “It was great to have @VivekGRamaswamy in Clyde last night and Fremont earlier in the day. Something transformational is happening in the heart of Ohio.”
What prompted the removal
TiffinOhio.net’s April 9 reporting raised questions about two endorsers on Ramaswamy’s page.
The primary article focused on Creech, who was accused in 2023 of climbing into bed with a minor female relative while erect and wearing only his underwear, according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation documents obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau. Creech admitted to investigators he had gotten into bed with the minor in his underwear but denied the sexual nature of the allegations. Clark County Special Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll declined to file charges but described Creech’s behavior as “concerning and suspicious.”
A companion article, based on video resurfaced by Ohio political journalist D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster, examined Click’s April 2023 sponsor testimony for House Bill 68. During the hearing, Click told the Ohio House Public Health Policy Committee that “young girls who’ve gone through this have told me it is very, very painful to have sex.” Click has never publicly identified who these young girls were, when the conversations took place, or in what capacity he was speaking with minors about their sexual experiences.
Click, who quietly stepped down as senior pastor of Fremont Baptist Temple in 2025 and assumed the honorary title of pastor emeritus — a transition first reported by TiffinOhio.net — is facing a contested Republican primary in Ohio House District 88, where he is challenged by Eric Watson. The May 5 primary is 22 days away.
Creech remains scrubbed
While Click moved quickly to get his name restored, Creech has not. As of Monday afternoon, Creech does not appear anywhere on vivekforohio.com/endorsements/, despite being among the original 38 Ohio House Republicans whose endorsements appeared on the site in April 2025.
Other names from that original list remain on the page — including Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), who told BCI investigators that Creech’s comments about the allegations were “disgusting and uncalled for.”
Creech is currently seeking re-election to Ohio House District 40, where he faces former state Rep. J. Todd Smith and Lew Lainhart in the May 5 Republican primary. The Ohio Republican Party has endorsed him for re-election.
Attempts to reach the Ramaswamy campaign and Click for comment were unsuccessful.
