State Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) won the Republican primary for Ohio House District 40 on Tuesday, defeating former state Rep. J. Todd Smith roughly 9 months after a state criminal investigation into allegations he climbed into bed with a minor female relative while erect and wearing only his underwear.

Creech took 6,712 votes to Smith’s 4,796 — 58.32% to 41.68% — according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State as of Wednesday afternoon. Smith, a Farmersville pastor, held the seat from 2018 until Creech defeated him in the 2020 Republican primary.

Creech now advances to the November 3 general election, where he will face Democratic candidate Timothy Hornbacker and Libertarian Joshua A. Umbaugh.

BCI investigation and “concerning and suspicious” findings

A minor female relative accused Creech in 2023 of climbing into bed and under the covers with her while erect, wearing only his underwear, according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation documents obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau. Text messages showed the minor complaining that Creech had been rubbing her legs and grabbing her waist, and that she was “put to tears” from being so uncomfortable around him, according to NBC4.

Creech told BCI investigators he had gotten into bed with the minor in his underwear but denied the sexual nature of the allegations. The case was first reported to the Preble County Sheriff’s Department in July 2023, but no investigation was launched. The Preble County sheriff and the county prosecutor — both personal acquaintances of Creech — recused themselves, and BCI did not begin investigating until November 2023, four months later.

Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll, brought in as a special prosecutor, wrote in October 2024 that Creech’s “behavior during the time of the investigation was concerning and suspicious” but that “the evidence falls short of the threshold needed for prosecution.” No charges were filed. Creech has called the allegations “demonstrably false.”

Stripped of committees, then restored

House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) stripped Creech of all 4 committee assignments — including his chairmanship of the House Agriculture Committee — in May 2025 and asked him to resign. Creech refused. In February 2026, Huffman reversed course, reinstated Creech to his committees, and signed a letter requesting the Ohio Republican Party endorse him for re-election. The party obliged.

Creech responded to the allegations on his official Facebook page by labeling his accuser’s statements “textbook parental alienation” — a concept that researchers, child welfare advocates, and the United Nations have described as pseudoscience deployed in family court to discredit children who report abuse.

The Click alliance

Creech is a close legislative ally of state Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), who is also seeking re-election in Tuesday’s Republican primary in Ohio House District 88. The two are cosponsors of House Bill 249, the so-called “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act,” which the Ohio House passed 63-30 on March 25.

During committee testimony on the bill in March, Planned Parenthood of Ohio’s Danielle Firsich called out Creech’s cosponsorship: “You have a man who was just put back on his committees, who was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, who is a sponsor on this bill.”

Click and Creech are also linked to House Bill 693, the “Affirming Families First Act,” which Click cosponsored alongside state Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania). The bill would write a statutory definition of “parental alienation” into Ohio law — the same framework Creech invoked publicly to dismiss his own accuser.

Both lawmakers were quietly removed from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s official campaign endorsements page in April, with Click restored within hours of TiffinOhio.net documenting the change. Creech’s name was not restored. Both also appeared together on a March 19 endorsement graphic from U.S. Senate candidate Jon Husted’s campaign, where Click serves as Sandusky County campaign chair.

Outside money

A super PAC funded by the parent company of online sports betting giant DraftKings ran Facebook ads and sent campaign mailers boosting Creech in the closing weeks of the primary. One mailer featured a photograph of a young girl. Creech’s daughter said the group used family photos of children Creech “has not contacted or seen in years.”

If Creech wins re-election in November, it will be his last term in the Ohio House under the state’s term limits, having been first elected in 2020 to the seat then numbered District 43.