TIFFIN, Ohio — The battle for Ohio’s 88th House District intensified Tuesday as Tiffin City Councilman Aaron Jones announced he will challenge incumbent Republican Gary Click for the seat representing Seneca and Sandusky counties in Columbus.

Jones, a first-term Democrat on Tiffin City Council, brings a resume that blends military service, blue-collar work, and local government experience to what is expected to be a competitive general election contest in November.

The 88th District has been represented by Click, a Vickery Republican, Baptist preacher, and former community theater actor, since 2021. Click has built a voting record in Columbus centered around culture-war issues and has been a vocal advocate for anti-LGBTQ legislation. Jones is positioning himself as a contrast — a factory floor veteran who says he understands the economic pressures facing working families in ways career politicians do not.

“Most politicians in Columbus have never spent a day on a factory floor,” Jones said in his announcement. “I have. I know what it’s like to worry about healthcare bills, grocery prices, and whether your kids will be able to stay and build a future here.”

Jones, who graduated from Clyde High School, spent 4 years in the U.S. Army before returning to the region and spending more than 2 decades in manufacturing. He currently works as a production supervisor at Toledo Molding & Die in Tiffin. He and his wife Tracy raised their sons in Seneca County and are now grandparents.

Elected to Tiffin City Council in 2024 to represent the 1st Ward, Jones has focused his local tenure on neighborhood safety, economic development, and constituent access. His campaign announcement framed his candidacy as rooted in that same approach — practical problem-solving over partisan gridlock.

Jones outlined a platform centered on kitchen-table economics: lowering costs for working families, protecting manufacturing jobs, strengthening public schools without political interference, upgrading local infrastructure, and expanding support for seniors aging in their communities.

“I’m not running to be somebody important,” Jones said. “I’m running because working families in the 88th District deserve someone who won’t forget them once the election is over.”

The announcement sets up a clear priorities split in the race. While Click has championed right-wing policies and aligned closely with national Republicans on cultural issues, Jones is leaning into his working-class credentials and a message that state government has lost touch with the economic realities facing rural and small-town Ohioans.

Jones did not directly name Click in his announcement, but the contrast was implicit. He criticized lawmakers who “put politics ahead of practical solutions” and said families in the district have been “forgotten by Columbus.”

Before Click can face Jones in November, he must first navigate a Republican primary challenge from Eric Watson of Tiffin, who is positioning himself as a more hard-line conservative alternative to the three-term incumbent.

Watson’s campaign materials frame his bid as a “Battle for Truth & Freedom” and prominently cite biblical scripture. His platform includes opposing what he calls “unchecked data centers” on farmland, “defending conservative Christian values,” rejecting digital IDs, ending property taxes, and “removing toxins from food.”

Watson, a former Republican Party committee member who says he attended what he called the 2020 Congressional “Election Integrity” hearing, has drawn attention from Ohio’s far-right activist networks. Former U.S. Senate candidate Mark Pukita publicly weighed in on the primary challenge, claiming Click “really has his panties in a wad” over Watson’s entry into the race. Click dismissed the comment, replying directly: “You’re funny, Markie. Not concerned at all.”

Click, a Baptist preacher first elected in 2020, is known for making transgender issues a central theme of his legislative work. He sponsored House Bill 68, the “SAFE Act,” which bans gender-affirming care for minors and restricts transgender participation in women’s sports. He currently chairs the House Community Revitalization Committee and sits on the Education, Children & Human Services, and Ways & Means committees.

The 88th District covers a mix of small cities, villages, and rural townships across both counties. It includes Tiffin, Fremont, Clyde, Green Springs, parts of Fostoria and Bellevue, along with surrounding communities. The area has historically been a political battleground, with economic anxiety over manufacturing losses and demographic shifts shaping voter priorities.

Jones is expected to formally face the winner of the Republican primary in the November 3, 2026 general election. He is not expected to face a Democratic challenger in the May primary.

More information about Jones’ campaign is available at www.jonesforohio.com, or on his campaign Facebook page.