U.S. Sen. Harry Reid drew the names of 10 Nevadans on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, to attend President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration in January.
Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 | 2:40 p.m.
Sen. Harry Reid held a drawing today for the first 10 tickets he’ll be doling out to President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration.
Six people from the Las Vegas area, three from the Reno-Carson City area and one resident from rural Nevada now have seats near the stage being built outside the Capitol, where Obama will stand for the public inauguration ceremony Jan. 21.
Obama’s second-term inauguration is not expected to draw the same crowd as his first in 2009, when about 1.8 million people flooded the National Mall in sub-freezing temperatures to see the nation’s first black president sworn in.
“Everyone knows second inaugurals are never like the first one,” Reid said at the drawing, which he did in a chamber across a hallway from the Senate floor. “That’s the way it was with President Reagan; that’s the way it is with President Obama.”
“But there will be well over a million people this time, so it’s still going to be lots and lots of people coming,” Reid said.
The majority leader also had some practical advice for Nevada attendees: Bring something warm.
“Everyone knows wintertime back here can be really cold. I’ve had the good fortune to attend a few of these [inaugurations] and only one of them has been inside,” Reid said, recalling that Reagan’s 1985 inaugural had to be moved indoors when the wind chill fell below zero.
While he only pulled 10 names out of the box Monday, Reid indicated that there would be additional tickets available later.
His office is also not the only one doling out seats.
Sen. Dean Heller’s office also has tickets and his spokeswoman Chandler Smith said they have been handing them out on a first-come, first-served basis. She did not clarify how many tickets Heller’s office has to hand out or has parted with.
Matt House, a spokesman for the Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, would not reveal how many tickets are being distributed to each member of Congress, though he confirmed that “every member serving in the 113th Congress receives tickets, and they are free to distribute those tickets however they choose.”
The 10 winners of Reid’s drawing today were:
• Bryan Hamilton of Baker
• Janise Henderson of Las Vegas
• Mike Langton of Reno
• Shahrukh Khalique of Las Vegas
• Sandra Marz of Reno
• Deirdre Parker of Las Vegas
• Shirley Phillips of Las Vegas
• Evan Ringler of Henderson
• Bryant Smith of Las Vegas
• Christopher Warner of Carson City
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