Will flags fly at full-staff on Inauguration Day in Ohio?
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — While flags are set to be flown across the county until sunset on Jan. 28 in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, who died at 100 on Dec. 29, some states will raise the flag to observe Inauguration Day.
Governors of at least nine states have ordered flags to be flown at full-staff on Jan. 20, before the end of a customary 30-day mourning period following the death of a president. Under a 1954 proclamation signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. flags fly at half-staff for 30 days from the death of a sitting or former president.
The list of governors includes Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, as well as Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The governors, all Republicans, announced this week that flags at state buildings, initially lowered to half-staff following Carter’s death, would fly at full height on Jan. 20.
Six of the nine state leaders said flags will be lowered the following day to continue honoring Carter. Little and Pillen announced that flags would be lowered at sunset on Inauguration Day, and Abbott did not indicate whether flags would be lowered back to half-staff after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
Previously in Ohio, DeWine ordered flags at half-staff beginning on Dec. 30, after the death of the 39th President of the United States. In a news release, the governor announced that U.S. and State of Ohio flags would be lowered on public buildings and grounds throughout the state for 30 days. DeWine placed the command following orders issued by President Joe Biden to pay tribute to the “life and service of former President James Earl Carter, Jr.”
On Thursday, DeWine announced the flags of the United States and the state to be raised to full-staff upon all public buildings and grounds in Ohio on Jan. 20. The order was issued “in honor of the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump.” After returning to half-staff on Jan. 21, flags will remain lowered until sunset on Jan. 28.
American flags at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida were raised from half-staff on Monday, The Associated Press reported.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that flags would fly at full-staff at the Capitol on the day of Trump’s inauguration and lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring Carter.
“On January 20th, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump,” Johnson said in a statement.