Columbia Gas parent gave Gary Click $3,000 before his pro-data center bill

Campaign finance records show that the political action committee of NiSource Inc. — the parent company of Columbia Gas of Ohio, the state’s largest natural gas utility — donated $3,000 to state Rep. Gary Click’s campaign across 4 separate contributions between 2021 and 2025, with the most recent check arriving just months before Click sponsored legislation critics say could benefit data center developers at the expense of ordinary ratepayers.

Click, a Republican ex-pastor and former community theater actor who represents the 88th House District covering Seneca and Sandusky counties, received $500 from NiSource Inc. PAC in June 2021, $500 in January 2024, $1,000 in July 2024, and $1,000 in November 2025, according to Ohio campaign finance filings reviewed by TiffinOhio.net.

In early 2026, Click sponsored House Bill 646, which would establish a Data Center Study Commission within the Ohio Department of Development. The commission is structured to give Republican-controlled offices 9 of 13 appointments — roughly 69 percent of the body — on what the bill frames as a neutral, fact-finding enterprise. The legislation was also designated an emergency measure, allowing it to bypass standard legislative procedure and take effect immediately, even though the commission itself would have up to six months to issue a final report.

Among the most pointed provisions in the bill is a directive for the commission to investigate whether opposition to data centers may be driven by “foreign propaganda” — a framing that critics say functions as a mechanism to categorize community resistance as potentially illegitimate. Data center developers have faced growing local opposition in Ohio over questions of water consumption, farmland conversion, electricity demand, and rising residential utility costs.

NiSource has a direct financial stake in the outcome of that debate. The company’s own corporate documents identify managing data center growth in its service territories as a core business consideration. Data centers are among the most energy-intensive commercial customers natural gas utilities serve, generating demand for backup generation, heating, and cooling infrastructure — all of which flows through utilities like Columbia Gas.

That demand is already reshaping what Ohio households pay every month. Columbia Gas of Ohio’s standard natural gas rate climbed nearly 26 percent over just seven months in 2024 and 2025, according to an analysis by Consumer Energy Solutions. A December 2025 report by WOSU Public Media found that Columbus-area customers relying on Columbia Gas could face an additional $36 per month in combined utility costs by 2027, with data centers identified as the main driver of electricity and gas demand increases. A Signal Akron analysis published this week found Ohio natural gas bills are up 84 percent since 2024.

NiSource, which reported nearly $800 million in profit in a recent fiscal year, does not contribute corporate funds directly to candidates. NiSource says its political action committee, NiPAC, is a voluntary, employee-funded body that makes bipartisan contributions tied to the company’s ability to deliver what it describes as customer, environmental, and economic benefits, according to the company’s political engagement disclosure page.

Click’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The donations add to a broader pattern in Click’s campaign finance record. As TiffinOhio.net has previously reported, political action committees account for 65.6 percent of the more than $312,000 Click has raised since taking office in 2020, with individual donors from within the 88th District contributing less than 14 percent of his total fundraising.

Competing legislation has taken a different approach to the data center issue. House Bill 706, introduced in February 2026 by a bipartisan pair of state representatives, would require that infrastructure and grid upgrade costs associated with data centers not be passed on to existing Ohio customers. “Data centers may bring jobs and investment,” Rep. Tristan Rader said in a statement accompanying the bill, “but their massive electricity demand can also drive major grid costs.” Click has not signed on as a co-sponsor.

HB 646 has been referred to the House Rules and Reference Committee. The 2026 primary election for the 88th House District is scheduled for May 5, with early in-person voting beginning April 7.