Ohioans are headed to Washington, D.C., to witness the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump or to march for women’s rights. The Beacon Journal is there for it all. Check back for updates throughout the weekend.
7:05 a.m
On ascent out of Akron-Canton Regional Airport, Andy Ogurchak leaned over to peer out the airplane window.
Inauguration bound, only a seatbelt could hold back his excitement in the early morning on the eve of the next presidency.
“I’m going to need to drink to fly with you,” joked his girlfriend, Lois Lindsey, who was somewhat nervous during takeoff.
Ogurchak attended his first presidential inauguration in 2012 at age 57.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he reminisced while his girlfriend curled up for a nap beneath his coat. “There’s just so much activity. So much going on. You can go in any direction.”
Ogurchak works for a security firm in Akron. He lives near the University of Akron.
He had to take a couple days off work to attend the 2017 presidential inauguration, something he’s planned for four years.
But he’s not a political junkie, like many people boarding buses and planes for Washington, D.C., this weekend. In fact, he didn’t even vote in 2012.
“I didn’t like either one of them,” he said of his choices then: Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
This time, he voted for president-elect Donald Trump. And he can feel the change coming.
“He’s not one of the boys. I think it’s great,” Ogurchak said of Trump’s campaign promise to shake up business as usual in the federal government. “There’s more energy. This time, it’s upsetting a lot of apple carts.”
The Akron man had committed to fly to Washington with or without his candidate standing victorious on Friday, left hand on the Bible and right hand in the air as he solemnly takes the oath of office. To Ogurchak, it’s about anything but politics.
He criticizes the scores of Democrats who have fled the capital as hypocritical and uncooperative.
“How can you claim that we can work together when right out of the gate, you’re not?” he said.
“It’s for the office, not the person,” he said of witnessing history. “Respect. I think that’s lost today.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .