Harry Dunn, officer who defended the US Capitol on January 6, is running for Congress in Maryland
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A former police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol against rioters on Jan. 6 announced Friday that he is running for Congress in Maryland.
Harry Dunn announced his candidacy a day before the third anniversary of the violent attack on the Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters that disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden.
“This moment we are in requires everyone to stand up and assume his or her role in defending and preserving democracy, and I am stepping into mine now,” Dunn said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Dunn said he has long been interested in public service, and the announcement in October by Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat, that he would not seek re-election, offered the opportunity to run in what has become a crowded Democratic primary for Maryland's 3rd Congressional District. , a heavily Democratic jurisdiction stretching between Baltimore and the nation's capital.
Dunn announced his candidacy early Friday morning on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying Trump was “determined to finish what he started three years ago.”
“On January 6, as a Capitol Police officer, I defended our democracy against insurrectionists. Afterwards, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Citizens Medal,” Dunn wrote. “Today I am running for Congress to stop Trump's MAGA extremists. & make sure it never happens again.”
Dunn said he has thought about Jan. 6 every day for the past three years, describing it as “a roller coaster ride of emotions,” feelings such as anger, sadness and even joy at seeing participants in the riots convicted in court.
More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes during the riot, ranging from misdemeanors such as misdemeanors to crimes such as assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. About 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while about 170 people have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or jury, according to an Associated Press database.
Dunn said he still has a sense of “horror about the direction the country is taking.”
“I don't think it's far-fetched to say that we're one election cycle away from the extinction of democracy as we know it,” Dunn said in the AP interview.
Sarbanes, who has served nine terms, is one of about 20 Democrats not seeking re-election to the House of Representatives. Fourteen Republicans have said they will not seek another term.
“A lot of people are leaving because I don't know a better way to say it: it's a very toxic place. But I do believe that in times like these it's important for good people to stand up so that the bad guys don't win, so to speak,” Dunn said.
Dunn, 40, said he believes his experience as a Capitol police officer would be valuable in Congress.
“I have been on the front lines, physically fighting for democracy, seeing the infighting on the floor in the halls of Congress, seeing members of Congress unable to even have common decent discussions with each other,” said he. “And I think I would offer a very unique perspective – one as a person who has defended them physically and then two, who has seen the ins and outs of it every day, and will push back ideologically against these individuals who are trying to destroy.” our democracy.”
Dunn said he left his law enforcement job several weeks ago to run for Congress after 15 years as a Capitol police officer.
Dunn, testifying before the committee Jan. 6 in Washington, told lawmakers about a conversation he had with rioters who fully bought into Trump's false claims that the election was stolen and believed that “no one voted for Joe Biden.” .
In his 2021 testimony before Congress, Dunn, who is Black, described how rioters shouted racial slurs at him after he told them he had voted for Biden and that his vote should be counted. Dunn said the crowd of intruders shouting racial slurs at him was something that never happened during his more than 12 years on the force.