Harry Dunn, a former US Capitol Police officer who fought off rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and testified about his expertise earlier than the Home Jan. 6 choose committee, introduced on Friday that he is launching a bid for Congress.
On the day earlier than the third anniversary of Jan. 6, Dunn introduced his Democratic main marketing campaign for Maryland’s third Congressional district and pledged that if he is elected, he’d work to dam former President Donald Trump’s Make America Nice Once more motion.
“On January sixth, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer,” he wrote on X. “After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Residents Medal. Right now, I am operating for Congress to cease Trump’s MAGA extremists & guarantee it by no means occurs once more.”
In Dunn’s announcement video, he walks by way of a reenactment of the Jan. 6 riot, the place he says his adherence to defending the Structure allowed him “to guard some members of Congress who I knew had been bigots, who helped fan the flames that began all of this.”
“Among the similar individuals who stood behind us once we protected them went again on the ground of Congress and stood behind Trump,” he continued. “They voted to acquit him. And worst of all, they denied the violence and trauma that led to the dying of a few of my fellow officers.”
On January sixth, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer. After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Residents Medal.
Right now, I’m operating for Congress to cease Trump’s MAGA extremists & guarantee it by no means occurs once more.
Be part of me:… pic.twitter.com/5G3rd90O45
— Harry Dunn (@libradunn) January 5, 2024
Dunn, who’s in search of to switch retiring Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, stepped down from the Capitol Police Division in current weeks and mentioned in a current CNN interview that his potential election to Congress would permit him to deliver accountability to Trump.
“I consider that as a Capitol Police Officer, I’ve exhausted every little thing that I may do in that function, in that capability to combat, for accountability, to combat for justice, to protect our democracy, to combat for a democracy,” he advised the community.
“I wanna do every little thing in my energy that I can do to combat again towards him,” he continued. “As a congressman, that provides me a seat on the desk now to carry him accountable.”
On Saturday, the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, Dunn mentioned that such an occasion “will occur once more” if Individuals do not maintain agency to the idea of democracy.
Dunn has spoken overtly concerning the racial slurs that had been hurled at him in the course of the riot, in addition to the racist on-line abuse that he confronted on social media and thru electronic mail after he spoke earlier than the Jan. 6 committee.
Whereas Dunn hopes to make the bounce to Congress in a strongly Democratic suburban district that beneath its present strains would have backed President Joe Biden with 62% of the vote, he’ll face a slew of main challengers within the third district contest.
The Democratic candidates already within the race embrace Maryland state Sens. Sarah Elfreth and Clarence Okay. Lam; Maryland state Dels. Mark S. Chang, Terri L. Hill, and Mike Rogers; businesswoman Abigail Diehl; and nurse Kristin Lyman Nabors.
