State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) spent months telling voters he wasn’t worried about his Republican primary challenger. Now, with six days until the May 5 election, he’s holding a pre-primary rally, sending urgent fundraising appeals, and warning supporters that a “strangest alliance” of enemies is working to defeat him.

Click’s campaign sent a mass email on Tuesday with the subject line “Primary Voter Rally,” characterizing the final stretch of the race in increasingly defensive terms.

“It’s less than a week before the primary, and it’s getting crazy out there!” Click wrote. “I’m getting attacked by conspiracy theorists on the right, liberals on the left, and liberals pretending to be conservatives.”

Click also pointed to a Facebook post — embedded in the email itself — in which a social media user called on Democrats and independent voters to pull a Republican ballot to vote him out. “While the post seen below completely mischaracterizes me, it does show you the depths to which Democrats will stoop to win in November, even crossing over to vote for a weak Republican in our primary,” Click wrote. “Shame on them!”

The urgent tone is a marked departure from Click’s posture throughout much of the campaign.

When former U.S. Senate candidate Mark Pukita commented on Facebook that Click “really has his panties in a wad” over the primary challenge from Eric Watson, Click replied directly: “You’re funny, Markie. Not concerned at all.”

When the Fremont News-Messenger asked about Watson’s campaign, Click said: “You move to the right of Gary Click and you’re in the ditch.” And when Watson called for public debates, Click dismissed the idea: “It’s always the guy losing that wants the debate. They are trying to grift off of the leader’s name ID.”

In March, Click’s campaign sent a fundraising email acknowledging that “this is a tough primary” — the first public signal that the race had tightened — and hosted a campaign kickoff in Clyde featuring Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, State Treasurer Robert Sprague, and Majority Whip Nick Santucci. U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, who had originally been announced as the event’s headliner, did not appear.

Tuesday’s email included a “Donate Today!” button three separate times and announced a pre-primary rally set for Friday, May 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Fremont Airport, Hangar 1, 365 State Route 53, Fremont. The event, called “Rich’s Rally for Votes,” is co-hosted with Richard J. Farmer II, a Republican candidate for Sandusky County Commissioner, along with other local conservative candidates.

Attempts to reach Click’s campaign for comment were unsuccessful.

Watson: ‘I’m approachable. I listen.’

Watson, in a statement to TiffinOhio.net, said Click’s messaging reflects a campaign under pressure.

“Many months ago, he said he wasn’t concerned at all about my entry into this race,” Watson wrote. “Now he’s urgently asking for a May 1st rally and still pushing for donations this late.”

Watson declined to accept Click’s framing that crossover voters are driving his primary challenge.

“He’s also leaning on the idea that Democrats are crossing over as a big psyop against him,” Watson wrote. “What I’m seeing on the ground is different. I’m approachable. I listen to people’s concerns. I don’t brush things off as conspiracies or ‘liberal propaganda.’ I take the time to hear voters out, even when we don’t fully agree, and that matters.”

Watson added: “I’ve had plenty of conversations across the board, and people respond to being heard. As I’ve been saying, we may not see 100% eye to eye on everything, but if we come together and work toward what’s best for the district, we’re going to be just fine.”

Jones focuses on jobs and costs as Republicans fight over ideology

While Click and Watson spend the final days before the primary trading accusations and debating the loyalty of their supporters, the Democratic candidate in the race has kept his focus elsewhere.

Aaron Jones — a U.S. Army veteran, production supervisor at Toledo Molding & Die in Tiffin, and Tiffin City Councilman — has built his campaign around the economic concerns facing working families in Seneca and Sandusky counties: jobs, cost of living, property tax relief, and funding for public schools.

Jones, who has worked at Toledo Molding & Die for more than 20 years, has a direct personal stake in one of the district’s most pressing economic stories. The company — which operates a plant in Tiffin employing more than 400 workers — has been the subject of active sale discussions following announcements of potential closure. Jones has spoken publicly about the uncertainty facing his coworkers and has made manufacturing job security a central part of his platform.

Jones is running unopposed in the May 5 Democratic primary and will advance directly to the November 3 general election, where he will face whichever Republican emerges from Tuesday’s contest. National veterans organization VoteVets has endorsed his campaign.

“I’ve spent over 20 years on the factory floor, I’ve served my country, and I serve my neighbors on City Council,” Jones said in a statement earlier this month. “I’m running because the people of District 88 deserve a representative who understands what it takes to make ends meet — not someone beholden to out-of-state special interests.”

The May 5 primary is the deciding contest for the Republican nomination. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.