State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) attended Vivek Ramaswamy’s Turning Point USA rally at Ohio State University on Tuesday evening — and made sure his followers knew it.
“Looking forward to a great night w Vivek Ramaswamy at the Turning Point USA event at The Ohio State University!” Click posted on Facebook, checking in at Mershon Auditorium in Columbus. “I’m honored to have a 100 rating from TPUSA!”
Click shared photos from inside the venue: the event’s branded stage backdrop, a selfie with another attendee in the crowd, and a wide shot of the auditorium filling up. The post drew less than 100 reactions.
Click did not appear on stage. He did not speak. He left alone.
The Ohio political newsletter The Rooster — Ohio’s largest independent political media operation, run by D.J. Byrnes and featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal — posted a photo of Click walking away from the building after the event. “Gary Click went to the Vivek rally, didn’t even get on the stage, and left alone,” the caption read.
The Turning Point USA “This Is the Turning Point” tour stop at OSU’s Mershon Auditorium featured Ramaswamy alongside Fox News host Lawrence Jones and television personality Savannah Chrisley. It was one of five campus stops on the national spring 2026 tour. Click was not listed as a speaker or featured guest for the event.
Tuesday’s rally is the latest chapter in Click’s complicated relationship with the candidate he has publicly championed for more than a year. Click endorsed Ramaswamy on social media during the candidate’s April 2025 visit to Sandusky County, writing: “Something transformational is happening in the heart of Ohio.” In January 2026, when Ramaswamy named Ohio Senate President Rob McColley as his running mate, Click told The Daily Signal that “the future of Ohio grew just a little bit brighter tonight.”
That enthusiasm did not translate into a speaking slot — or even public acknowledgment — at the Columbus rally.
The event also comes after a turbulent stretch in Click’s relationship with the Ramaswamy campaign. TiffinOhio.net reported on April 13 that Click had been quietly removed from Ramaswamy’s official endorsements page — a change confirmed by Web Archive snapshots — before being restored within approximately two hours of the outlet’s coverage. Click responded on Facebook by calling the reports “greatly exaggerated,” paraphrasing a quote commonly attributed to Mark Twain, without addressing the archive evidence. His response was documented by TiffinOhio.net.
Primary challenger Eric Watson called Click “a liability” in the wake of that episode, comparing it to U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno’s decision not to appear at Click’s campaign kickoff in March.
Click has not posted to social media about the rally since Tuesday evening. The Republican primary for Ohio House District 88, which covers Seneca and Sandusky counties, is May 5.
