Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer who responded to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and has since testified about his experience in multiple venues, is running for Congress—heavily citing his experience during the storming of the Capitol three years ago.
FILE - U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn listens as the House select committee investigating the ... [+]
Dunn, a Maryland resident, was a member of the Capitol Police force for 15 years before he announced his retirement in December.
He was on site during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and guarded a stairwell where injured officers were gathered, and confronted Trump supporters near former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
He’s since become an outspoken eyewitness and critic of what happened that day, testifying in 2021 before the House Jan. 6 Committee that: “There was an attack carried out on Jan. 6 and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that.”
Dunn has also testified at the trials of rioters involved in the attack, including the Oath Keepers, and has repeatedly shared stories about his experience that day—claiming the Capitol Police force faced violence and that Black officers like himself were “verbally assaulted with racial epithets, in addition to the physical blows we endured.”
He wrote a book about his experience and was one of several police officers awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Joe Biden last year.
“I question why all Americans aren’t united in the pursuit of justice and accountability,” Dunn wrote in a CNN op-ed Saturday morning, the third anniversary of the attack. “It has been disheartening to witness the growing support for former President Donald Trump, the instigator of the violence we saw that day.”
Dunn is running as a Democrat in Maryland’s reliably Democratic 3rd Congressional District. But he enters a crowded Democratic primary field vying to take the seat being left vacant by the impending retirement of Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes. Maryland Matters reports that there are 15 Democrats who have thrown their hat into the ring. The outlet also reported that Dunn does not currently live in the district, but has committed to moving there if elected—district residency is not a requirement for seeking election.
Maryland Matters reports that candidates will have to file their campaign finance reports by Jan. 31, which will provide an early indication of who’s garnering early momentum in the race.