WASHINGTON, DC (KELO AM) Out in that sea of people watching Donald J. Trump being inaugurated as America's 45th President, was Jason Ravensborg of Yankton.
Ravensborg, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate, says Trump speech was just right.
"I thought it was filled with enthusiasm, optimism, a path forward, trying not to look back," Ravensborg tells KELO Radio News. Ravensborg says the peaceful transition of power was "awe inspiring" with so many former Presidents there and even Hillary Clinton, who was defeated by Trump.
"It just shows the World that no matter how divided we are politically, that we can still come together."
South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune says now the work begins.
"As the Trump Administration begins, I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues in Congress to pursue pro-growth policies that strengthen the economy and create more good paying jobs," says Trump in a video statement.
Governor Dennis Daugaard attended the inauguration, so Lt. Governor Matt Michaels was minding the store in Pierre, and watching remotely like the rest of us. The peaceful transition of power should not be taken lightly.
"I think that's an amazing thing that we talk about quite a bit regardless of our beliefs about who should be or we want to have president, I've lived in a country where that transition was not peaceful and people actually gave their lives," says Michaels.
A man from Garretson, South Dakota, couldn't be in Washington for the big event either, so he had his own version of Donald Trump with him. He had a full size carving of the new President in the back of his pickup on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls on Friday.