Dewine faces choppy political waters being one year in pandemic

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — At the beginning of 2020, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine was working on plans to battle algae blooms in Lake Erie, crack down on distracted driving, and figure out a way to save an Ohio minor league baseball team.

The largely popular first-term Republican governor accepted an invitation to give the commencement address at Miami University in May. The 2022 election was a long way off, but some Democrats were already exploring challenges to Dewine.

Then came the first week of March, and with it a decision by Dewine that set the stage for a year of politics that today seems like something viewed from the other side of Alice in Wonderland’s looking glass.

On March 3, without a single reported COVID-19 case in the state, Dewine laid down strict attendance limits on the annual Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, a supersized gathering founded three decades ago by Arnold Schwarzenegger that typically brings 20,000 athletes from 80 countries to compete in events including professional bodybuilding and a strongman competition. Annual economic impact on the city: more than $50 million.

“That was really, at least for me, the beginning of the pandemic,” Dewine said earlier this week, adding: “It’s hard to believe that it’s been an entire year.”

Nine days later, with the virus spreading rapidly elsewhere but with just five confirmed virus cases in Ohio, Dewine ordered schools closed for three weeks, becoming the first governor nationally to make such a move. The closing of gyms and theaters followed shortly, and then statewide stay-at-home orders.

What came next was a year of surprising political turmoil for a career politician who many initially believed had met his moment. Dewine, who’s held multiple state and federal offices, now faces reelection in 2022 amid fierce criticism from the very Republicans whose party he spent decades helping to build.

Dewine’s actions against the virus won him early praise, not just from public health professionals but also from business groups and even restaurant owners hammered by the shutdown who acknowledged his actions could save lives.

Soon Dewine, Health Director Dr. Amy Acton and GOP Lt. Gov. Jon Husted were a daily fixture for many Ohioans, the 2 p.m. routine dubbed “Wine with Dewine” by cooped up Ohioans teasingly prone to daydrinking by the pandemic. Acton became a folk hero in her own right, inspiring young girls to dress up like doctors and to conduct their own living room briefings.

The good mood didn’t last long for some. Democrats sued after Acton, acting on Dewine’s orders, postponed Ohio’s March 17 primary just hours before voting was set to begin, thrusting the state’s presidential election into chaos.

In April, Dewine walked back a statewide mask mandate after a single day following intense opposition from Republican constituencies, including many businesses. While keeping masks mandatory for business employees, he finally issued a statewide mandate in July that remains in effect. A Dewine spokesperson said Wednesday there are no immediate plans to lift it despite the decision by Texas and other states to end their mask mandates.