WASINGTON, DC – Senator Dan Stec said the mood at President Donald Trump’s inauguration was uplifting on Monday.
“There were people from all over the country and everyone was watching and listening intently and it was very patriotic to be there,” said Stec (R-Queensbury).
Stec drove home on Sunday and stayed in Alexandria, Virginia, near the capital.
He attended several events with Republican lawmakers from New York, including a watch party for the Buffalo Bills’ playoff game on Sunday night, which they won.
“The Eric County Republican Party had a watch party. It was great,” said Stec.
He had tickets for seats on the lawn near what would have been the stage for the inauguration ceremony outside the capital, but everything was moved indoors because of the cold weather.
“So everyone rushed to a spot to check it out,” Stec said.
He ended up in an Irish pub where many other compatriots watched the ceremony on television.
“Everyone was asking people, ‘where are you from,’ and it was really interesting to be in our nation’s capital with people from all over the country,” Stec said.
“When they played the national anthem, everyone stood up as if they were there. Everyone listened attentively and it was a lot of fun to be part of it.”
Stec said Trump’s speech reinforced the ideas he put forward during his campaign of improving the economy and returning America to excellence, and people seemed to embrace that.
“This is what the people voted for,” he said.
Stec liked Trump’s nod to ending years of both parties using the Justice Department to wage war on enemies.
“We have to get off that merry-go-round,” Stec said.
“He wants to unite the country and that will be his legacy.”
The city was crawling with security, Stec said, and there were crowds everywhere.
“It was in the mid-20s (temperature), which isn’t too bad for the North Country, but for people from other places there was a lot of walking outside so I could see why they moved everything indoors,” he said.
Stec said he knows Democrats and Republicans will still disagree on many issues, but the inauguration offers a new opportunity to make life better.
“Every four years we need a fresh start and that’s nice,” he said.