COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine responded Tuesday afternoon to a small group of the state’s most conservative lawmakers who are calling to impeach him.

"Have at it," he said.

Articles of impeachment backed by four members of the Ohio House of Representatives were filed Monday against DeWine.

Addressing these critics on his right, who call the statewide mask mandate authoritarian and criticize his response to COVID-19 as overly restrictive on businesses, DeWine said his priorities are keeping people safe and bringing Ohioans back to work.

“If there are others in the legislature who want to spend their time on drawing up resolutions and filing articles, look, it’s a free country,” DeWine said. “I’d just say to them: ‘Have at it.’"

Rep. John Becker of Cincinnati is leading the impeachment effort. His three co-sponsors are Rep. Candice Keller of Middletown, Nino Vitale of Urbana, and Paul Zeltwanger of Mason. The impeachment articles claim DeWine violated the state constitution with health orders that allegedly infringe on Ohioans’ rights.

DeWine defended his coronavirus response as measured in response to a question about frustration from conservatives who say his approach has been heavy handed.

“We don’t want any health order to stay on a day, an hour, or a second longer than it needs to be on,” he said.

Later, DeWine stressed that “basically everything is open,” and said the remaining restrictions—his mask mandate, a 10 p.m. alcohol sales cutoff, and limitations on large gatherings—are “relatively small sacrifices.”

The governor said his COVID-19 orders have been issued to preserve life, which he views as fundamentally conservative.

"I'm a conservative. I think conservatives historically are to preserve life, to preserve liberty," he said. "What we have done in consultation with health experts is in the tradition of conservatism."