TIFFIN — Ohio Gun Owners, the self-described most aggressive Second Amendment organization in the state, has rated Republican primary challenger Eric Watson as its top-tier candidate in Ohio’s 88th House District — and given 3-term incumbent State Rep. Gary Click a C-minus.

The rating, posted to the organization’s 2026 candidate survey results page and promoted on social media, marks one of the sharpest rebukes Click has received from a conservative organization in the primary race.

“Republican Eric Watson signed his 2026 Gun Rights Survey 100% pro-gun,” Ohio Gun Owners wrote in a Facebook post alerting voters in Sandusky and Seneca counties. “His opponent has been rated a ‘C-’ by Ohio Gun Owners.”

Watson received the organization’s “Aq” rating — its highest grade for non-incumbent candidates — based on his survey responses. A C-minus, according to the organization’s published rating scale, indicates a legislator who leans toward gun owners only occasionally with no philosophical commitment and must be constantly pressured by the pro-gun movement.

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

OGO’s war with Ohio House Republican leadership

The low grade is consistent with Ohio Gun Owners’ broader campaign against the Ohio House Republican establishment — including Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, whom the organization has labeled “The Gun Rights Obstacle-in-Chief in Columbus.”

Ohio Gun Owners has accused Huffman and House Public Safety Committee Chair Cindy Abrams of deliberately blocking 3 priority gun bills — HB 382, the Second Amendment Protection Act; HB 495, the Freedom to Carry Act; and HB 498, the Ohio Self-Defense Act — by burying them in committee without hearings or floor votes. The organization says more than half of the Ohio House Republican caucus has cosponsored HB 382, but Huffman has refused to bring any of the bills to a vote.

Click’s relationship with that same leadership was on display at his March 28 campaign kickoff in Clyde, which featured Huffman, Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, and Ohio House Majority Whip Nick Santucci — 3 of the most powerful Republican figures in state government.

Watson highlighted the gun rating at a Sandusky County Republican Women’s forum earlier this month, telling the audience that Click received a C-minus from Ohio Gun Owners while he received their top score. “My opponent’s actually not been reading some legislation,” Watson said from the stage, drawing applause.

A growing list of right-wing endorsements for Watson

The Ohio Gun Owners rating adds to a growing list of conservative organizations and national right-wing figures who have backed Watson over Click in the May 5 Republican primary.

End Abortion Ohio, a Christian 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for a total legal ban on abortion, endorsed Watson on March 4 and issued some of the sharpest criticism of Click to date. The group said Click had “more than ample opportunity” to champion House Bill 370 — a personhood bill that would extend legal protections to fetuses from the moment of conception — and refused. End Abortion Ohio President Austin Beigel called Click’s stance “a total lack of urgency or courage in Columbus.” Ohio voters approved Issue 1 in November 2023, enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution with 57% of the vote.

Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who bills himself as “America’s Sheriff,” also endorsed Watson. Lamb is a Trump-endorsed congressional candidate running for Arizona’s 5th District and a frequent presence on Fox News and Newsmax. He previously ran for U.S. Senate in Arizona in 2024, losing the Republican primary to Kari Lake.

The Coalition of Concerned Voters of Ohio (CCVO), a self-described grassroots organization whose logo carries the tagline “Delete Voting Machines,” endorsed Watson and used the announcement to directly criticize Click for withdrawing his previous support for HB 472, which would have required hand-counted paper ballots. Election security experts, including those at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have consistently found that paper-based optical scan systems — the method currently used in Ohio — are more accurate and auditable than fully hand-counted processes.

Marcell Strbich, a Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State who is challenging Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague in the May 5 primary, has also endorsed Watson. Strbich, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, has centered his Secretary of State campaign on election integrity and positioned himself as an outsider alternative to the Ohio Republican Party establishment.

Click leans on Statehouse allies

Click, a Baptist preacher from Vickery first elected in 2020, is running for his 4th and final term due to term limits. He has leaned into his Statehouse relationships for the 2026 campaign, drawing support from Huffman, Sprague, and Santucci rather than from the grassroots conservative organizations that have lined up behind Watson.

Click has publicly dismissed Watson’s challenge. “You move to the right of Gary Click and you’re in the ditch,” he told the Fremont News-Messenger earlier this year.

But the accumulation of endorsements and ratings from organizations operating to his right tells a different story: that conservative activist groups across multiple issue areas — guns, abortion, and election policy — have concluded that Click does not represent their priorities in Columbus.

Watson, a commercial pilot and small business owner who returned to Seneca County in 2022 after a decade in Arizona, has cast just 1 ballot in the district — the 2024 general election. His campaign has centered on opposing digital ID legislation, eliminating property taxes, and blocking data center expansion on Ohio farmland.

The Republican primary in Ohio’s 88th House District is scheduled for May 5. Early in-person voting begins April 7. The primary winner will face Democrat Aaron Jones, a Tiffin City Councilman and Army veteran, in the November general election.