The Ohio Federation of Teachers has endorsed Aaron Jones, the Democratic candidate for Ohio House District 88, in his campaign to represent Seneca and Sandusky counties.

The endorsement was announced in a June 18 letter from OFT President Melissa Cropper, who cited Jones’s support for public schools, higher education, libraries and the workers who staff them. The union represents about 20,000 educators, higher-education faculty, support staff, librarians and public employees across Ohio.

“We need people like you in office fighting for the working people of Ohio,” Cropper wrote.

Jones, a production supervisor at the Toledo Molding & Die plant in Tiffin and a member of Tiffin City Council, said the support reflects what is at stake for the district’s schools.

“Public schools built this district — in Tiffin, Clyde, Fremont, and every town in between,” Jones said. “The people who teach our kids and keep our libraries open shouldn’t have to wonder whether their state representative is in their corner. They’ve got my word that I will be.”

A 1991 Clyde High School graduate and U.S. Army veteran, Jones served four years in the Army, including with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment — the Old Guard — before returning to Tiffin and building a career of more than twenty years on the factory floor. The OFT endorsement adds to a list of labor and veterans’ organizations backing his campaign, which earlier this year drew the support of the national veterans group VoteVets.

A reliably Republican district, narrowed by a bruising primary

District 88 has long been considered reliably Republican. But the incumbent, Rep. Gary Click of Vickery, emerged bruised from the May 5 Republican primary, winning by fewer than 600 votes — 52.28 percent to 47.72 percent — over challenger Eric Watson. Click carried his home county of Sandusky but lost Seneca County to Watson, surviving only on his Sandusky margin. Watson declined to endorse Click after the race.

Jones, who lives in and was elected in Seneca County — the county Click lost — ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Seneca County Democrats have pointed to the primary turnout and the incumbent’s narrow margin as evidence of momentum heading into the fall.

The two candidates enter the general election with contrasting records. Click, a Baptist pastor first elected in 2020, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 68 — the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation, or SAFE, Act — which bans gender-affirming care for minors and, through its Save Women’s Sports Act provisions, restricts transgender participation in school sports. Jones has centered his campaign on economic issues, including utility and housing costs, property taxes, manufacturing jobs and public school funding.

Jones’s campaign says he is not accepting corporate PAC money in the race. More information is available at the Jones campaign website. The general election is November 3.