Published: 11-26-08
And Other Helpful Information
Tickets for the 2009 Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama are on a first come first serve basis. There are a limited number available and some offices report that they are all out of them already.
Here is an article from WashingtonPost.com that porovides more details.
You MUST contact YOUR Member of Congress and ask for availability and their process. Below is some information from Rep. Jim Moran that you may also find helpful:
2009 Inaugural Information
For information on all inaugural events please visit
The Official 2009 Inauguration Committee website
Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony
A limited number of tickets to the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony which will be held on January 20 2009 will be distributed to each Congressional office by the Inaugural Committee.
This is the only Inaugural event to which each Congressional office will receive tickets. Each office has not yet learned how many tickets they will receive or when they will be made available for distribution. However some offices have developed a waiting list for constituents interested in obtaining tickets. Please note that many have been reiving ticket requests for over a year and have developed quite an extensive waiting list.
Tickets will be distributed on a first come first serve basis. While all requests for tickets will be considered due to the limited number of tickets available and extremely high volume of interest not all requests can be fulfilled.
Inaugural Parade
The Inaugural Parade which takes place before the Swearing-In Ceremony will be open to the public and does not require tickets. The Armed Forces Inaugural Committee will be accepting requests from individuals and groups who wish to participate in the parade. More information ...
Inaugural Balls
Inaugural Balls will be coordinated by the Presidential Inaugural Committee which has not yet been established.
Beware Of Inaugural Ticket Scams
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies released the following information regarding tickets for the 56th Presidential Inaugural Ceremony on January 20 2009:
Tickets to the 56th Inaugural Ceremonies will be provided free of charge and distributed through Members of the 111th Congress. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies does not provide tickets to the public. Members of the public interested in attending the Inaugural Ceremonies should contact their Member of Congress or U.S. Senators to request tickets.
The public should also be aware that no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell regardless of what they may claim. Tickets will not be distributed to Congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in-person pick-up.
“Any website or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth” said Howard Gantman Staff Director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
“Tickets for the swearing-in of President-elect are all provided through members of Congress and the President-elect and Vice President-elect through the Presidential Inaugural Committee. We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism.”
