State Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.) is running for Congress in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District on a legislative record built around protecting children from obscenity and indecent exposure. His public Facebook history tells a different story.

Williams, who serves as the Ohio House Majority Whip and is one of five Republicans competing in the May 5 primary, posted a series of sexually explicit and degrading comments about women on his personal Facebook page. The posts, which date from approximately 2018 to 2022 based on visible timestamps, were first reported by Ohio political blog The Rooster in May 2023. They are resurfacing now as Williams seeks to represent Northwest Ohio in the U.S. House.

In one post, Williams wrote: “Depends on if I made her squirt of not.”

In another, he wrote: “If after I nut I still want you to be lying next to me then i know if u a keeper. If I ask you ‘what you bout to get into?’ Just know we was just fucking.”

A third comment used sexually degrading and racially charged language: “Naw shave that shit. Don’t no one wanna go down and get hair stuck in they teeth. Oh bushy ass. Get that afro puff pussy out of here.”

Williams also shared a meme on Sept. 29, 2018 — shortly after Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings — from the page “Being Libertarian” depicting a woman and a young boy with the text: “NOW REMEMBER TIMMY — UNLESS YOU HAVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION PRESENT ALL TIMES, DONT TALK TO GIRLS!” The post mocked sexual assault allegations and dismissed the credibility of women who come forward.

On Dec. 17, 2018, Williams shared a meme featuring a photo of Hillary Clinton with the text: “I’m not saying hillary is ugly, but all of her male friends are rapist and she has never been raped.” Williams captioned the post “LMAO.”

Confronted and refused to answer — then doubled down

D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster confronted Williams about the posts in a recorded exchange in May 2023. When asked about the sexually explicit Facebook comments, Williams initially deflected: “I don’t have any comment about anything I post on Facebook. It’s social media.”

When pressed on whether he actually posted the content, Williams said: “I would have to look back through my timeline.” But in a different exchange, Williams dropped the ambiguity entirely, confirming the Clinton post was his and refusing to apologize. “What do I gotta apologize about?” he said. “I made the post in 2018 being funny while I was in college burning time.”

Byrnes pointed out that Williams was approximately 34 years old at the time — not a teenager. Williams did not dispute that characterization. He also confirmed he does not delete content from his social media: “I don’t delete anything off of social media.”

When Byrnes specifically asked Williams about the Clinton rape joke, Williams called it “a meme that was I thought was funny at the time.” Asked whether he still found it funny, Williams said: “Yeah, I think that picture of Hillary is hilarious and how ugly she is. I think that’s funny.” When Byrnes pressed that the meme was a rape joke, Williams denied it, insisting it was “a joke about her appearance” and that “she’s ugly as hell.”

’As long as I’m alive, I’m going to prevent perverts’

Williams’ Facebook history stands in direct conflict with the legislative record he is running on.

He is the lead sponsor of House Bill 249, the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act, which the Ohio House passed 63-30 on March 25. The bill bans drag performances in any venue where a minor may be present and expands the public indecency statute to target transgender Ohioans who use gendered public facilities. During floor debate, Williams appeared to refer to transgender people as “perverts,” saying: “As long as I’m alive, I’m going to prevent perverts from exposing kids to obscene material.”

Williams is also a co-sponsor of House Bill 84, the Innocence Act, which would require age verification on pornographic websites to prevent minors from accessing obscene material online. The Ohio House passed the bill in March, and it is now before the Senate. Williams said at the time: “Pornographic websites are continuing to distribute a sea of obscene material to minors without proper age verification.”

And he is the co-sponsor, alongside State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), of House Bill 693, the Affirming Families First Act, which would write a statutory definition of “parental alienation” into Ohio law and restrict child welfare investigations involving parents who decline to affirm a child’s transgender identity. The Heritage Foundation helped draft the legislation.

Click endorsed Williams after posts were public

The Rooster’s reporting on Williams’ Facebook posts was published in May 2023, including a video of the in-person confrontation that remains publicly available. More than two years later, in August 2025, Click formally endorsed Williams’ congressional campaign.

Williams acknowledged the endorsement on social media on Aug. 11, 2025, writing: “Honored to have the endorsement of Ohio Representative @clickforohio. Gary is a strong conservative & voice for faith, family, & freedom in Ohio.”

Click and Williams have co-sponsored multiple pieces of legislation in the Ohio House, including HB 693 and HB 249, where Click is among the 44 Republican cosponsors. Click, who chairs the Ohio Legislative Prayer Caucus, has built his own legislative brand around what he describes as protecting children and families — most prominently through HB 68, which bans gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and is currently under review by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Click’s endorsement came with full knowledge that Williams’ sexually explicit social media history had already been reported on and that Williams had refused to address it when asked directly.

The OVI stop

Williams’ Facebook posts are not the only episode raising questions about his judgment as he seeks higher office.

In 2022 — roughly three months before he was first elected to the Ohio House — Williams was stopped by an Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer while driving a golf cart at Put-in-Bay. Body camera footage, first reported by WTOL 11 in June 2025, shows Williams refusing all field sobriety tests and chemical tests — including blood, breath, and urine.

On Oct. 23, 2023, Williams pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of reckless operation of a vehicle, a minor misdemeanor. He was fined $150, and his license was suspended for six months. Refusing a chemical test had triggered a one-year administrative license suspension; the six-month suspension was retroactive to the date of the incident.

In a sit-down interview with WTOL 11, Williams denied drinking that night, citing recent abdominal surgery and blood-thinning medications. He said he did what he was “trained to do” in the face of an OVI accusation — maintain his innocence and prove it in court.

The OH-9 primary

Williams is competing in a crowded Republican primary for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. The seat is held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history, who narrowly defeated former State Rep. Derek Merrin by roughly 2,300 votes in 2024.

Merrin is running again. Other Republican candidates include Air National Guard Lt. Col. Alea Nadeem, former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan, and health care industry worker Anthony Campbell. The district now leans Republican at 54.5% to 45.5% under new maps approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission in October 2025.

Williams, born in 1984, was the first Black Republican elected to the Ohio House in 50 years when he won his seat in 2022. His campaign biography emphasizes his path from inner-city Toledo homelessness to earning a law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law. He brands himself as a “Trump Republican for NW Ohio.”

The Republican primary is May 5.