WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to move inaugural ceremonies indoors will protect thousands of people from the hazardous icy, but it also means most people heading here won’t be able to participate in the festivities.
Trump announced Friday that the swearing-in ceremony would be moved from the Capitol steps, where risers and a huge stage have already been erected, to the Capitol Rotunda, given the expected temperature of 15 degrees on Monday.
“I don’t want people to get hurt in any way,” he wrote on Truth Social.
It will be the first time the ceremony will not take place outside the Capitol since 1985, when Ronald Reagan moved his second inauguration inside.
The Joint Inaugural Committee said Saturday that due to the change, “the vast majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend the ceremonies in person.” The commission stated that only those with tickets to the presidential platform and members of Congress could attend in person.
“We strongly suggest that people in Washington for this event attend other indoor events at locations of their choice to view the inauguration,” the commission said.
More than 200,000 tickets were issued for the outdoor inaugural ceremony and for the parade that was to run from the Capitol to the White House.
Now the parade and live-streamed event has been moved to the Capital One Arena, which has a capacity of 20,000. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) posted on X on Sunday that Capital One Arena would open Monday at 7 a.m. and admission would be first-come, first-serve.
Members of Congress, who receive several hundred tickets to distribute to voters, have been instructed to inform ticket holders that these tickets are now “commemorative” tickets because most will not have access.
In an email to House offices, the House sergeant-at-arms asked that voters be informed that their tickets would no longer allow them to watch the proceedings in person.
“Due to the frosty weather, the inauguration will be held in the Capitol Rotunda. Tickets won in our office lottery are now kept as souvenirs and cannot be used to enter the ceremony,” wrote U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (R-PA) on X.
Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat who represents part of Delaware County, said Friday shortly after the decision was made that her office had distributed about 250 tickets that were no longer valid.
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said Friday that his office had received 2,000 applications for about 200 tickets.
“Pennsylvanians worked very hard to win Pennsylvania,” Meuser said Friday, noting the facilitate of “over 10,000” volunteers, including “people who have never been involved in politics before.”
“It’s reflected in the number of people who came from Pennsylvania,” he said.
Joseph Soliziz, an oil and gas industry lawyer, traveled from Houston after securing tickets to the inauguration. His plan now was to try to get to Capital One Arena on a bright and early Monday. However, he found that his mood had not diminished.
“The atmosphere is very positive,” he said at Union Station after purchasing a new Trump 47 hat.
Lori Boddy, 66, and Marjorie Shelp, 72, friends from South Carolina, took photos in the rain that turned to hail in front of the Capitol.
“We were really, really disappointed and at first I thought: Are we even going?” Boddy said. “But we’re going to the Palmetto Ball and the team-building event, and being in Washington when it’s happening, I might cry talking about it.”
Shelp, who is from Quakertown but moved to South Carolina four years ago, said she was coming to Washington to show support for Trump, whose campaign she volunteered for.
“You know he wanted his people to be here with him,” she said. “He fought long and hard to get here.”
