Presidential Inauguration Day - January 20, 2009

On January 20, 2009, New Jerseyans and people from around the country will gather in Washington, D.C. to witness the historic Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. The ceremony will be held outdoors on the west side of the U.S. Capitol. There are many opportunities to participate in a wide-range of activities, some of which require tickets and others that do not. Tickets for specific areas of the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony will be distributed in January 2009 by U.S. House and Senate offices. All tickets are free and will be distributed through Member offices only.

The overwhelming demand for tickets to the Inauguration has been unlike anything seen before. Tens of thousands of New Jerseyans have requested tickets for this historic occasion. Each Senate and House office can offer only a very limited number of tickets, and the requests to my office have far outpaced the number of tickets provided. Therefore, my office will no longer be accepting Inaugural Swearing-in Ceremony ticket requests. If you have already placed a ticket request with my office, and my office is able to fulfill your ticket request, we will be in touch with you by early January. At that time you will receive detailed information regarding ticket pick-up. Please note that tickets will not be mailed. Each individual requesting a ticket will be required to show a government issued photo ID in order to pick up the tickets in my Washington, D.C. office before the Swearing-in Ceremony.

Because of this enormous interest in the Inaugural, I wanted to remind everyone that those who do not have tickets will still be able to watch from the National Mall. Tickets are only needed for a reserved section of the Mall in front of the Capitol Building, but the remainder of the Mall will be open to the public and will be equipped with large screen monitors and speakers. In addition, it's expected that large parts of the Inaugural Day parade route will be open to the public. This is a historic moment for our nation, and I encourage all New Jerseyans to come to Washington, D.C. to take part in this momentous occasion.

If you would like more information regarding the Inaugural Swearing-in Ceremony I encourage you to visit the Inaugural website http://www.inaugural.senate.gov to sign up for email alerts, notifications, and news releases. In addition, the President-elect will also form a Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC), which will be responsible for all balls, galas, receptions, parties and the official Inaugural Day parade. Ticket requests for these events should be directed to the PIC. Its website is: http://www.change.gov/learn/inauguration/. Information on these events will be updated by the PIC as it becomes available.