Republican Governor Faces Impeachment For COVID-19 Health Measures As State Tops 17,000 Daily Cases

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine faces a dozen articles of impeachment filed by Republicans due to his efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Impeachment would require a majority vote in the state House and a two-thirds vote in the state Senate, unclear prospects despite Republican control of both houses.

DeWine took aggressive measures early on to stop the viral spread in his state by mandating masks, closing some businesses and postponing a primary election. In the articles of impeachment was his inclusion of religious buildings in his closures, an issue Republicans have focused on with the Supreme Court striking down New York’s similar provision, according to News 19, a CBS affiliate in Cleveland.

“Rather than hearing the cries of Ohioans, Gov. DeWine continues to stifle those cries by finding more inventive ways to use masks to muffle the voices of the people,” said State Rep. Becker, one of the four filers. “He continues to have callous disregard for the fact that his isolation policies have led to a shockingly high number of suicides, alarming rates of drug abuse, persistently high unemployment, and the forced abandonment of the elderly by their loved ones.”

Ohio saw a record number of single-day infections, topping 17,000 new cases on Nov. 27. Many Republican governors who once resisted pandemic safety measures are now seeing massive transmission spikes, but none have been the subject of impeachment efforts.

DeWine maintained his resolute stance and determination to continue fighting the virus. He has told those protesting public health workers to target him instead, letting others continue their work as he handled the politics, the Washington Post noted.

“My priorities are to keep people safe and to get our economy moving faster,” DeWine said in response to the attacks. “If there are others in the legislature who want to spend their time drawing up resolutions and filing articles … I’d just say to them, ‘Have at it.’”

He also touched on the divisiveness in the state and the severity of the pandemic.

“There’s a small number of people out there making a lot of noise,” he said. “I just wish they’d go spend some time talking to somebody who suffered through this.”