President-elect Donald Trump predicted that he’d win in Washington state, but he never had much of a chance in a state where no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1984.
In one of the nation’s bluest states, it should come as little surprise that demand for tickets to watch Trump take the oath of office is sluggish compared to the last two inaugurations.
So far, Washington state Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell has received more than 500 requests for tickets.
“Compared to 2013, we’ve received half the amount of overall ticket requests, and it is just a third of the total amount of requests we received for Obama’s inauguration in 2009,” said Bryan Watt, Cantwell’s spokesman.
Compared to 2013, we’ve received half the amount of overall ticket requests, and it is just a third of the total amount of requests we received for Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Bryan Watt, spokesman for Washington state Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell
In addition, Watt said, more than half of the people who requested tickets before the election have canceled.
“We’ll continue to fulfill all requests even if they come to us the day before the event,” Watt said.
Democrat Patty Murray, Washington state’s senior senator, made plans to distribute her tickets via lottery, but the deadline for signing up was on Thursday, said Kerry Arndt, Murray’s spokeswoman.
“People who got tickets will be notified in the coming days,” she said, adding that the office expected to have roughly 300 tickets to distribute.
Washington state’s Sumner High School applied to participate in the inaugural parade, but its band did not make the final cut.
But Watt said that Washington state will send a large contingent of students to the event.
He said they’re expected to come from Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, Elma Middle School and Elma High School in Elma and Cascade High School and Everett High School in Everett.