Gary Click isn't working for District 88 — he's working for himself

With 24 days until the May 5 Republican primary, it is worth stepping back and looking clearly at what State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) has actually been doing with his time in Columbus — and everywhere else.

Because it has not been representing the people of Seneca and Sandusky counties.

Over the course of his tenure in the Ohio House, Click has billed his campaign donors more than $19,000 in conference travel — to ALEC gatherings, to a WallBuilders conference in Texas run by Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, to the Family Research Council in Washington. He stayed at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, a AAA Five Diamond luxury resort, on his donors’ dime. He spent more than $12,000 on golf outings at a private country club — complete with professional signage, catered dinners, and bakery runs — all charged to his campaign account, every single year.

He billed four Columbus hotel stays to his campaign that his own filings labeled “Non legislative.” He never reimbursed them.

And while all of this was happening, Click was quietly building something for himself.

He told the Advertiser-Tribune he has been traveling to California, Colorado, Alabama, and cities across Ohio preaching about what he called “the justice and biblical role of Christians in civil government.” He filed paperwork for a nonprofit called “We the Church.” He attached his name to HB 486, the so-called “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act” — a piece of legislation designed not to solve a problem in Ohio but to connect its sponsor to a national conservative media brand.

And then, quietly, he stepped down as pastor of Fremont Baptist Temple.

Not publicly. Not with an announcement. The church website still listed him as active pastor for 11 months after the transition allegedly occurred — until TiffinOhio.net started asking questions. Then, suddenly, Click went to the Advertiser-Tribune to get his version of events on the record, blaming Democrats for “trying to make something of it.” When confronted on social media, he responded: “Actually, that is inaccurate. I’m still pastor emeritus.” A response that confirmed exactly what was reported while appearing to misunderstand what the word “emeritus” means.

This is the pattern. Not transparency — damage control. Not accountability — deflection.

When the League of Women Voters of the Tiffin Area held a District 88 candidates night in March, Click did not attend. Both of his opponents showed up. Click blamed the scheduling — a Wednesday evening during session — and called the event something that “resembled what it would look like if the Democrat blog Tiffin dot net had a podcast. Fake News with a dash of rumors and liberal, unverified Click bashing all day long.”

The LWV board responded with a statement that dismantled Click’s claims point by point. The event had been scheduled the previous summer. Click was invited by email. A board member personally re-invited him at a public event. He was notified that both opponents had confirmed. He did not respond until the morning of the event. And the next evening — Thursday — Click showed up at a Sandusky County Republican forum with no apparent scheduling conflict.

He did not skip the LWV event because the House was in session. He skipped it because he did not want to answer questions he could not control.

At the Sandusky County forum, when a moderator asked Click how he would fight sexual predators in District 88, he ignored the question entirely and pivoted to transgender children — legislation he has made a centerpiece of his identity. That is not a serious answer. That is a candidate who has confused a culture war applause line with constituent service.

Then came the gun photo.

With weeks left before the primary, Click swapped out his professional headshot for a photo of himself shouldering a scoped rifle. This from a legislator who earned a C-minus from Ohio Gun Owners, refused their candidate survey two cycles running, and voted to table the Second Amendment Preservation Act in December 2024. When Ohio Gun Owners called him out, Click responded by calling their executive director a “fraud” and a “stalker” on his official Facebook page — the same page where he calls himself a servant-leader.

The profile photo is not about the Second Amendment. It is about a man who looked at a primary calendar, saw the walls closing in, and grabbed the nearest prop.

A former Click donor — someone who gave $3,000 to his campaign before becoming disillusioned — has said publicly on Facebook what many in the district have begun to suspect: that Click is using his seat in the Ohio House as a stepping stone to something bigger. The national travel, the nonprofit, the Charlie Kirk bill, the pastoral exit, the ALEC conferences, the WallBuilders pilgrimage — none of it has anything to do with Sandusky and Seneca counties. All of it has everything to do with Gary Click’s next act.

Consider what Click’s campaign money has actually gone toward. Only 13.9% of his total fundraising has come from individual donors inside the 88th District. More than 65% has come from corporate PACs and industry groups. In 2025 alone, he transferred $39,000 to OHROC — the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee, the caucus PAC controlled by Speaker Matt Huffman. That is not a war chest built to serve local constituents. That is a loyalty payment to the party apparatus that keeps an incumbent insulated from primary challengers.

And yet the challenger came anyway.

Republican Eric Watson of Tiffin and Democrat Aaron Jones of Tiffin — a U.S. Army veteran, factory supervisor, and Tiffin City Council member — are both running because they see what the record shows: a representative who has spent six years building a personal brand on his constituents’ time and money.

Click’s official Ohio House page still features the quote: “Leaders must first be servants. Without the ability to serve, one forfeits the ability to lead.”

Read that again. Then look at the campaign finance reports, the luxury hotel receipts, the golf tournament invoices, the “non-legislative” hotel stays, the WallBuilders conference fee, the national nonprofit paperwork, and the gun-toting profile photo of a man who earned a C-minus from the very organization whose voters he is now trying to court.

Gary Click is not serving District 88. He is serving himself. And he has the receipts to prove it — because he filed them.

Early voting is underway. The Republican and Democratic primaries are May 5, 2026.