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Marion County Republicans described huge crowds, celebrities, and freezing temperatures on the ground in the nation’s capital Sunday and Monday as President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term in office.
The main inauguration event was moved indoors because of the cold. The high temperature in Washington, D.C. on inauguration day was 17 degrees, according to the Weather Channel. Despite having tickets for the event, a small group from Oregon including the chair and vice chair of the Marion County Republicans, watched Trump’s inaugural speech together from the lobby of the Marriott hotel near the U. S. Capitol.
Jessica Davidson, vice chair of the Marion County Republicans, was on her way back to her Airbnb after Trump’s inaugural address Monday and said the atmosphere in Washington, D.C. was exciting and upbeat.
“It was a monumental historic occasion. There were lots of people just really excited and chanting, ‘USA! USA!’ Very proud of the things that took place,” Davidson said.

She said there were Oregonians with her from Linn, Washington, and Clackamas counties and that the group was going to attend a ball with a group from Oregon’s 6th Congressional District, which includes most of Salem.
Davidson said a few things in particular stood out for her from Trump’s inaugural speech.
“Securing our borders is a fundamental one, keeping our citizens safe, and our communities and the education piece was very big for me,” Davidson said. “Because I have young children … in Oregon the education system is very broken.”
Davison said she believes Trump’s message is more unifying than it was during his previous term in office.
“I think it is important that we remember that we are all citizens of the United States. It doesn’t matter the color of our skin, or our religion or any of those things. We are all here for a purpose,” Davidson said. “If we can sit down at the table together. Share a cup of coffee, or even lunch, and talk about the things that we aspire to, and the things that we have in common, we can unite together and make things in Oregon wonderful. Especially in Marion County.”
She said tomorrow the group will go on a tour of the U.S. Capitol with U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, and then they will visit Arlington National Cemetery before coming back to Marion County on Wednesday.
“If we can be kind to one another, if we can work together, then I think that is an amazing goal to have,” Davidson said.
Mike Slagle, chair of the Marion County Republican Party, said he and the group went downtown for a rally on Sunday, and said the line to get in was already extensive at 7:30 a.m. despite the bitter cold.
“I’d estimate that there were more than 100,000 people in line. It went like 2 miles long. And the energy was just phenomenal,” Slagle said. “The weather really put a damper on things out here, which was a bummer.”
He said about 20,000 people were allowed into the area for the rally and he said he was struck by the sheer number of law enforcement providing security for the event.
Slagle said he was interviewed by reporters from Romania and took photos with rapper and Trump supporter Forgiato Blow. He also saw the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship Dana White walk by on the street.
On Monday, Slagle said he was with Davidson and the rest of the group watching Trump’s speech from the Marriott.
“He’s going to reverse all the craziness that our country has been experiencing the last four years. The lawlessness. We see it in Oregon of course,” Slagle said. “Securing the border, and one of the things that everybody cheered about, because there were veterans in there, was that he is going to reinstate all the veterans that got let go because they didn’t take the Covid shot.”
Slagle said being a U.S. Air Force veteran who served from 1978 to 1982, the last point in particular struck a chord with him.
Slagle said some of the top issues he sees for both Oregon and the country include homelessness, drug addiction and immigration.
“I call it the homeless industrial complex, because you have all these nonprofits, NGOs that say, ‘Hey we need tax money to support our services,’ and then we give them money and they never fix the problem,” Slagle said “I haven’t seen it get better…they just move people around and out of sight. For a while it was really awful…You’d go down I-5 by Market Street, and it looked like a Third World country.”
When it comes to immigration, Slagle said he has a lot of fondness for the local Hispanic community, however, he believes those who wish to become citizens should do so through the legal channels.
“I don’t want local immigrants to be scared…I know they will be, I can imagine they will be…They are going to be scared. And I don’t want them to be scared, and maybe somebody needs to educate them on what to do,” Slagle said. “I believe immigrants should assimilate into our culture. This is America, we have an American culture, and if they want to be an American they should assimilate into our culture.”
What he doesn’t approve of, Slagle said, is allowing law enforcement to remove immigrant children from schools. He said he supports a recently passed resolution from the Salem-Keizer School Board affirming the district won’t collect or share immigration records.
“I am fine with that. I think that would be devastating to a young person to get yanked out of school because they are an immigrant, like a criminal. I think that is devastating,” Slagle, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Salem-Keizer School Board in 2021, said. “But the families, I would have to look at why they are here. What do they want to do here? Do they want to be a citizen? Do they want to go through the process of becoming a citizen?”
Slagle said he anticipates there being conflict between state, local and federal agencies in Oregon as the Trump administration moves forward with its desire to implement sweeping crackdowns on undocumented immigrants nationwide, including widespread deportations.
Slagle said Monday he was getting ready to attend the Presidential Ball where Trump was expected to make an appearance.
“He appeals to the common man, even though he is this billionaire and he’s got this ego. He still appeals to the common man. He speaks to them. And maybe speaks to the American spirit too in some ways that we have somewhat lost over the years, and he wants to bring that back, and bring America back to being a powerful entity in the world,” Slagle said. “I support that 100%.”
Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.
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Joe Siess is a reporter for Salem Reporter. Joe joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and primarily covers city and county government but loves surprises. Joe previously reported for the Redmond Spokesman, the Bulletin in Bend, Klamath Falls Herald and News and the Malheur Enterprise. He was born in Independence, MO, where the Oregon Trail officially starts, and grew up in the Kansas City area.