Medina Today

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci is criticizing Gov. Mike DeWine in the wake of his deployment of the National Guard to assist with the omicron COVID-19 variant.

ABC News recently described DeWine's message as "grim."

Renacci said DeWine should be encouraging the state to get back to normal, not fear mongering.

“Mike DeWine shut the doors FOREVER on 3,100 restaurants in Ohio and thousands more are fearing that the same fate may fall upon them too," Renacci said in a release. "A Renacci/Knopp administration will promote a culture of hope and growth in Ohio."

Ohio's small businesses have been hit by a wave of closures, according to Renacci's site. Businesses of all sizes are dealing with an extraordinary labor shortage, prompting many to cut back on hours or close totally. In addition, Ohio’s economic recovery is among the worst in the country, according to The Center Square.

Over 3,100 Ohio restaurants have permanently shuttered their doors, according to the Ohio Restaurant Association.

“All of the fear and doom handed down by Mike DeWine the past two years has us hanging on by a thread,” Paul, a deli owner in Northeast Ohio, said in a release issued by Renacci's campaign. “Our income is our family business and now we need cash flow to pay the bills. Things were picking up a bit this past fall. Now DeWine is back on TV telling our customers to hide again. We will not survive another round of this.”

Team Renacci noted on Twitter that DeWine is taking notes from the Biden administration.

"Mike DeWine is in lockstep with Joe Biden on coronavirus. We need a governor who OPPOSES Biden, not one who leads like him!" Team Renacci said on Twitter. 

DeWine has been dubbed the “most egregious” of the governors who have imposed Covid protocols.

He has been opposed by members of his own party since the beginning of the pandemic, with one of them attempting to charge him criminally for implementing illegal executive orders during the outbreak.

In the fall of 2021, articles of impeachment were filed against DeWine for constitutional infractions.

Members of DeWine’s inner circle were recently implicated in the FirstEnergy bribery scandal, in which the energy company paid $61 million in illegal bribes to lawmakers in order to save two nuclear reactors.