MILWAUKEE — If not for the pandemic, Chris Walton would have attended President Joe Biden’s inauguration Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Instead, the chair of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County watched the ceremony from his living room.
“It moves really fast when you’re sitting at home watching on television,” Walton said. “When you’re outside on the west front of the Capitol, it takes a bit longer and it’s a little bit more breezy.”
Walton attended inaugural ceremonies for President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013. While he could not be there this time, he still watched history in the making, specifically the moment Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office.
“I’m going to remember seeing those images and knowing that one day my niece will grow up and see that anybody can be President, anybody can be Vice President,” he said.
Walton lives in Milwaukee, but spent the month of December in Georgia working on Senate campaigns for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Their victories gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate, with Vice President Harris holding tie breaking power.
“Even with a Democratic majority, it’s still a 50/50 split,” Walton said. “So we’re going to need Republicans to work across the aisle with us so we can move this nation forward.”
As many Democrats have noted since Biden’s election victory, Walton said the real work starts now.
We’ve done four years of dividing,” he said. “Now we have to do four, eight, twelve - however long it takes - of getting us back together and united.”