Embattled state Rep. Gary Click has turned a Dodge Challenger into a rolling campaign billboard, covering the muscle car with his name, patriotic graphics and “America 250” branding as he campaigns for another term representing Seneca and Sandusky counties.
But there is another part of Click’s record that follows him onto the road.
The Vickery Republican accumulated 10 traffic citations over the decade ending in early 2023, including four for driving more than 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit and two for failing to wear a seat belt, according to Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles records reviewed by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Click accumulated those violations while holding a commercial driver’s license permitting him to transport passengers.
Now, as Click drives a Challenger bearing his name around the district, the contrast is difficult to miss: one of Ohio’s most frequently ticketed state lawmakers has made a muscle car part of his campaign image.
Click ranked near the top of the Statehouse for traffic tickets
Click’s driving record stood out even among 129 state legislators whose records were examined by the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2023.
Fifty-two lawmakers had no traffic tickets during the decade reviewed. Another 28 had only one.
Only three lawmakers had at least 10 citations.
Click, a former Baptist pastor and community theater actor, was one of them.
His 10 tickets placed him behind only then-state Rep. Niraj Antani, who had 14, and state Rep. Jay Edwards, who had 13. Four of Click’s citations were for exceeding the speed limit by more than 15 mph.
When the Enquirer asked Click about his record, he did not dispute the violations.
“There are more important issues than lawmakers’ speeding tickets,” Click told the newspaper.
Edwards, who had more citations than Click, responded differently.
“This isn’t something I’m proud of but I accept responsibility,” Edwards told the Enquirer. “I’m certainly not above the law.”
Highway Patrol chief: ‘Look very hard at your driving behaviors’
Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Charles Jones did not dismiss lawmakers’ driving records as unimportant.
Asked by the Enquirer about legislators with repeated traffic violations, Jones said traffic laws apply regardless of occupation and specifically addressed lawmakers who had accumulated 10 or more tickets.
They should “look very hard at your driving behaviors,” Jones said.
Click was one of only three legislators who met that threshold.
The significance goes beyond traffic tickets.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says speeding endangers everyone on the road because it increases stopping distance, makes vehicles more difficult to control and increases the severity of crashes. In 2024, 11,288 people were killed in speeding-related crashes nationwide, accounting for 29% of all traffic deaths.
Ohio has its own significant speeding problem.
According to a 2025 Ohio State Highway Patrol traffic safety bulletin, 146,983 speed-related crashes occurred on Ohio roadways from 2020 through 2024. Those crashes included 1,713 fatal crashes that killed 1,890 people.
Speed was a factor in 30% of all fatal crashes in Ohio during that five-year period.
The problem is also present in the two counties Click represents.
State traffic data show 278 speed-related crashes occurred in Sandusky County in 2025, while Seneca County recorded 163.
Combined, Click’s two-county district experienced 441 speed-related crashes in a single year.
A muscle car becomes a campaign prop
A recent photograph shows Click posing directly in front of the campaign-wrapped Challenger alongside two other Dodge Challengers.
The white car is difficult to mistake for anything other than political advertising. An eagle stretches across the rear quarter panel. Red and blue graphics cover the vehicle. An outline of Ohio appears on the door alongside large lettering promoting Click as state representative.
The hood is covered in American flag imagery.
It is essentially a campaign sign on wheels.
What is not clear from the photograph is who legally owns the Challenger or who paid for the vehicle wrap. TiffinOhio.net has therefore not characterized the vehicle itself as a campaign expenditure.
There is also no evidence reviewed by TiffinOhio.net showing that Click has received a speeding citation while driving this particular vehicle.
But the documented record preceding it is substantial: 10 traffic citations, four involving speeds more than 15 mph above the limit, and a ranking that placed Click among roughly the top 2% of Ohio lawmakers examined for traffic violations.
The branding may be new.
The driving record is not.
Click is now sponsoring legislation dealing with traffic safety
There is another wrinkle to Click’s driving record.
He is currently a primary sponsor of House Bill 82, legislation dealing with traffic offenses in construction zones and named the Trenton Gallaway Work Zone Safety Act.
The bill was introduced by Click and state Rep. Mark Johnson in February 2025 and was reported favorably out of the House Public Safety Committee in June.
That puts Click in the unusual position of sponsoring legislation focused on dangerous driving behavior in work zones after compiling one of the longest traffic records among his Statehouse colleagues.
Click’s four documented speeding citations predate the current legislation, and there is no indication any of those violations occurred in a construction zone.
Still, his own record provides context as he asks lawmakers to change Ohio’s traffic laws while simultaneously making a Dodge Challenger part of his reelection image.
Click heads into a difficult general election
The Challenger is appearing as Click tries to rebuild his political standing after a bruising Republican primary.
Click survived the May 5 Republican primary by just 599 votes, defeating first-time challenger Eric Watson 6,859 to 6,260.
Nearly 48% of Republican voters in the district voted to replace the three-term incumbent.
Click also lost Seneca County outright, winning the nomination only through his stronger performance in his home county of Sandusky.
The narrow victory has been followed by an increasingly visible reelection push. Click is scheduled to hold a Sept. 21 golf fundraiser in Tiffin featuring Republican officeholders and Statehouse power brokers, even though Seneca County was the portion of his district he lost in May.
He faces Democrat Aaron Jones, a Tiffin City Council member, U.S. Army veteran and longtime manufacturing supervisor, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Click’s campaign-wrapped Challenger gives the incumbent another highly visible way to put his name in front of voters.
It also makes a record he once dismissed as less important considerably harder to ignore.
