When Staci Patterson got an invite to come to Donald Trump’s second inauguration, she and her husband jumped at it. The Colorado Springs Republican hadn’t been very involved in politics before Trump came on the scene. But now it’s a different story.
“I'm ecstatic. This is our first time ever and this is such a special occasion for Trump to get reelected and what it's going to do for our country,” Patterson said Sunday at a brunch for Colorado Republicans near the U.S. Capitol. “I'm ecstatic. I can't even believe I'm here.”
She got on the plane Saturday not knowing what inauguration would look like, with both the ceremony and parade forced indoors due to an anticipated cold blast. Patterson was a little disappointed not to get to see them in person. But she has a contingency plan.
“I think I'm going to go sit in a warm cozy [place] and watch it from wherever we are — in a warm place,” she said with a laugh.
A very small fraction of the people originally expected to attend the inauguration on the National Mall will get the chance to be inside the Capitol Rotunda for the swearing in. A live viewing of the event is planned for the Capital One Arena, which has capacity for around 20,000 people.
Priscilla Rahn, a former vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party, bought her plane ticket for the inauguration the night Trump won reelection. Like Patterson, this is the first time she’s been to an inauguration and she too was disappointed the Trump team bowed to the weather.
“I brought my ski pants from Colorado,” she said. “I was ready to stand outside. I had my hand warmers. I said, ‘you know what? Nothing's going to hold me back from being outside. If I can snowboard for hours, I can stand outside and watch the inauguration.’”
Instead she’s leaving the snowpants in her luggage and preparing her ballgowns instead.
“I've got some tickets to some balls. I'll get to see some speakers come through and just make the most of it,” she said.
Michelle Gray, head of the Pueblo County GOP, was also prepared to endure the cold, but said it was important to also keep people safe. Washington D.C. is under the same polar vortex that’s currently chilling much of the country. After a round of snow on Sunday, the nation’s capitol is expected to have wind chills in the single digits Monday.
“I was going to sit up front and it was going to be really, really cool. But it's still a really great experience to be in DC and all the history around us,” said Gray.
The Coloradans CPR News caught up with were all understanding about the change in venue, and still saw the value of making the trip, whether it be to meet their congress member or see the monuments and visit with friends. Many planned to hit one of the many other inauguration-related events taking place across the city.
That included Sunday’s brunch, thrown by Colorado's House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese.
Pugliese was at Trump’s first inauguration and saw a fortuitous historic parallel in the weather-related change in venue. She noted President Ronald Regan’s second inauguration was also forced indoors by cold.
“I think it just foreshadows the great four years that we'll have under President Trump,” she said.
Pugliese threw the brunch as a thank you to the candidates and grassroots people who supported Republicans up and down Colorado’s ballot last fall. It was a moment of celebration for the state’s Republicans. The party has not had a good run electorally for many years as Colorado has trended increasingly Democratic. Last year’s election slowed that trend.
At the reception were Colorado’s three newest Republican congress members: Reps. Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd.
Pugliese pointed out that the party also gained ground at the legislature, picking up three seats in the state House. “As much as we are here for the historical wins at a federal and national level, we are here to celebrate Colorado and all that we did.”
While die-hard fans of the incoming president made the best of the change in venue, not all the Coloradans who planned to go to the inauguration ended up staying.
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade, a political independent who was also in town for a conference of mayors, had expected to go as an opportunity to advocate for his city. But “even with my VIP seated tickets, [it was] not good enough to get me indoors, but that's okay.”
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who’s currently chair of the National Governor’s Association, will lead a bipartisan group of governors to the inauguration and is expected to be in the Rotunda, as are some of Colorado’s members of congress.
Among the Colorado Republicans who came for inauguration, expectations are high for the next Trump administration. Brita Horn, a former Routt County treasurer and a candidate to chair the state GOP, is looking forward to some follow-through on Republican campaign promises.
‘We definitely want border security. We definitely want some balance in economic” policy, said Horn. “We can go back to Colorado and find out that one egg is 60 cents. I mean, we really have to figure out what's going on and making sure that we're fulfilling all the promises.”
Frieda Wallison from Pitkin County didn’t come to D.C. for the inauguration, but she was still happy for a chance to celebrate with fellow Colorado Republicans over the weekend. She’s hopeful that this time around Trump will strike a different tone from his first inaugural address, a speech that’s been nicknamed “American Carnage.”
“A positive, hopeful, unifying message for the country,” is what she said she wanted to hear. “Because we're sorely missing that.”
Others, like Republican Clarissa Arellano Thomas of Highlands Ranch, said they hope that message of unity is echoed by the public as well. She wants people of all political stripes to tone it down and come together.
“We have a change. This is the beauty of the American experiment,” she explained. “And it's like, we all have to be in it together because why would we want our country to fail? And so yes, I know that people always say, ‘well, your guy is in right now.’ It's not that. There's a lot of Republicans that didn't vote for President Trump.”
And she noted in 2020 there were Democrats that didn’t vote for Biden.
Regardless of who people voted for, one thing will unify anyone following the inauguration Monday. Whether they’re in D.C. or Colorado, nearly everyone will watch the inauguration the same way this year – via a screen.
