State Rep. Gary Click’s “What’s Clickin’” podcast has earned some statewide recognition—landing in Cleveland.com’s annual Sloopy Awards for Worst Use of Social Media in Ohio politics.

Click’s podcast and X posts tied for fifth place in the category, receiving 13.29% of reader votes in the 2025 awards. The Sandusky County Republican finished behind Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial year-round schooling video (26.38%) and Ohio Senate GOP Communications Director John Fortney’s “The President’s Podcast” (19.45%), but managed to edge out fellow Republican David Thomas’s tax policy cooking videos filmed with his mother.

More than 11,600 votes were cast across 28 categories by readers of Capitol Letter, Cleveland.com’s daily political newsletter, evaluating Ohio’s political landscape throughout 2025.

Click’s social media presence earned recognition in multiple categories. He also placed second in the “Biggest Windbag” category with 25.54% of the vote, narrowly trailing Rep. Josh Williams’s 27.71%.

The “What’s Clickin’” podcast features Click discussing legislative issues and his conservative policy positions. The representative has used the platform alongside his social media presence to promote his legislative agenda in the 88th House District, which he has represented since 2021.

Click faces competitive primary challenge

The unflattering recognition comes as Click navigates a competitive Republican primary challenge from Eric Watson, a Tiffin-based entrepreneur who has attacked Click’s corporate fundraising ties and legislative record.

Click announced he will run for his fourth and final term representing Ohio’s 88th House District, telling the Fremont News-Messenger that Watson’s campaign efforts are “in the ditch.”

“You move to the right of Gary Click and you’re in the ditch,” the Vickery Republican said when asked about Watson’s insurgent campaign.

Click, a fundamentalist Baptist preacher and former community theater actor first elected in 2020, faces term limits after this cycle. Ohio House members can serve a maximum of four two-year terms.

Watson has centered his challenge on Click’s co-sponsorship of Digital ID legislation and what Watson characterizes as the incumbent’s prioritization of corporate interests over constituent concerns. Campaign finance records support Watson’s central attack: 65.6% of Click’s $312,985 in total fundraising since 2020 has come from corporate PACs and industry groups, while individual donors within the 88th District account for just 13.9% of his campaign war chest.

Click is a primary sponsor of House Bill 200, “The America First Act,” which would align Ohio law with federal immigration law. He said he also wants to develop the ICE Act “to prevent the use of public facilities to train activists to obstruct justice” and emphasized “the importance of distinguishing between lawful protest and illegal activity.”

Click chairs the House Community Revitalization Committee and serves on the Education, Children & Human Services, and Ways & Means committees. He authored House Bill 68, the “SAFE Act,” which prohibits gender-affirming care for minors.

Watson has secured the endorsement of Marcell Strbich, a Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, and has framed the race as a “Battle for Truth & Freedom.” His platform advocates eliminating Digital IDs and property taxes entirely, protecting Ohio farmland from data center development, and “removing toxins from food.”

Despite Watson’s attacks on Click’s legislative record, Seneca County Board of Elections records show Watson has cast just one ballot in the district—the 2024 general election.

General election awaits

The Republican primary winner will face Tiffin City Councilman Aaron Jones, who is running unopposed on the Democratic ballot. Jones—a first-term councilman, Army veteran, and manufacturing supervisor—has centered his campaign on kitchen-table economics, public education investment, and infrastructure improvements.

Early in-person voting for the May 5 primary begins April 7. The primary winners advance to the Nov. 3 general election representing Seneca and Sandusky counties.

The full Sloopy Awards results are available at Cleveland.com.