State Rep. Rodney Creech, who acknowledged to investigators that he got into bed with his minor daughter while erect and wearing only his underwear, is celebrating Vivek Ramaswamy’s defeat in the Ohio governor’s race and attacking the reporting that preceded his removal from Ramaswamy’s campaign endorsements page.

In a Facebook post Monday, the West Alexandria Republican accused Ramaswamy of abandoning him over what he called “fake Tiffin News articles,” sharing a screenshot of TiffinOhio.net’s April 13 report documenting the removal of Creech and state Rep. Gary Click from the campaign’s list of supporters.

“Remember when Vivek Ramaswamy removed my endorsement from his campaign because he was worried about the fake Tiffin News articles affecting his race?” Creech wrote. “Well, he lost. We won!”

He accused the defeated gubernatorial nominee of throwing a sitting Republican lawmaker “under the bus” and said he had spoken to Ramaswamy and his team about the decision. “Unfortunately, we have too many Republicans who are afraid of their own shadows,” Creech wrote, calling for new party leadership.

The investigation behind the reporting

The reporting Creech denounced concerned an actual Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation case. According to BCI records obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau, his minor daughter accused him of getting into bed and under the covers with her while he had an erection and was wearing only his underwear. Creech acknowledged to investigators that he had gotten into bed with her in his underwear but denied sexual misconduct.

Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll, acting as special prosecutor, described Creech’s behavior as “concerning and suspicious” but concluded that the evidence did not meet the threshold for prosecution. No criminal charges were filed. Creech has called the allegations “demonstrably false” and previously dismissed his daughter’s account on Facebook as “textbook parental alienation.”

The investigation had significant political consequences well before Creech’s dispute with Ramaswamy. House Speaker Matt Huffman removed Creech from four committee assignments and asked him to consider resigning in May 2025. Creech refused. In February 2026, Huffman restored his committee assignments and backed his bid for the Ohio Republican Party’s endorsement, which Creech received.

Creech did not identify a specific factual error in TiffinOhio.net’s reporting in Monday’s post. His criticism instead focused on Ramaswamy’s decision to distance his campaign from an endorsement that it had publicly promoted since April 2025.

Archived campaign pages document the removal

Ramaswamy’s campaign listed both Creech and Click on its endorsements page in a February 20 archived version. Both names were absent from the April 11 snapshot, two days after TiffinOhio.net reported that Ramaswamy’s website was still promoting Creech’s support despite the BCI investigation. The campaign made no public announcement explaining the change.

Click, the Republican who represents Seneca and Sandusky counties, reappeared on the page within about two hours of TiffinOhio.net documenting the removal April 13. Creech did not. Click subsequently characterized reports of his own removal as “greatly exaggerated,” despite the archived pages showing that both names had disappeared. Click has previously called Creech his “good friend,” and the two have continued to cosponsor legislation.

The election results gave Creech the contrast he seized on Monday. Ramaswamy lost the governor’s race to Democrat Amy Acton, who led him by 364,448 votes, 52.3% to 44.4%, in unofficial statewide returns. Creech won re-election to House District 40 with 65.4% of the vote against Democrat Timothy Hornbacker and Libertarian Joshua Umbaugh. Creech offered no evidence for his implication that removing his name from an endorsements page contributed to Ramaswamy’s defeat.

“It’s time to regroup, put the petty politics behind us, and find strong, principled Republican leaders who are willing to stand up for our state and the people they represent,” Creech wrote. He ended with a message to the candidate he had endorsed: “And Vivek…enjoy doing whatever it is you do, I have a lot work to do for our great state!”