Harry Dunn, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who defended the building during the Jan. 6 riot, is joining a wide field seeking the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes in Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District.
Dunn, 40, who was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Citizens Medal and published a memoir last year called “Standing my Ground,” announced his candidacy for the Democratic primary on Friday, almost exactly three years after a day that he said took a toll on his emotional health.
“On January 6th, 2021, I did my duty as a police officer and as an American and defended our nation’s Capitol from violent insurrectionists,” Dunn said in a release on Friday. “Today, I’m running for Congress because the forces that spurred that violent attack are still at work and as a patriotic American, it is my duty to defend our democracy.”
In an interview, Dunn said serving in Congress would give him a seat at the table and a voice, particularly in the conversation about protecting democracy, after spending more than 15 years working to create a “safe space” for such discussions on Capitol Hill.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we are one election cycle away from the extinction of democracy as we know it today,” he said.
Dunn, who grew up in Prince George’s County and now lives in Silver Spring in Montgomery County, told a House committee in July 2021 of being called racial epithets as he sought to protect the building from supporters of former President Donald Trump, a Republican, who had stormed the Capitol seeking to block Congress from finalizing the presidential vote count declaring Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.
Once the building was secured, Dunn told the committee investigating the attack: “I sat down on a bench with a friend of mine who is also a Black Capitol Police officer, and told him about the racial slurs I had endured. I became very emotional and began yelling ‘How the [expletive] can something like this happen?! Is this America?’ I began sobbing, and officers came over to console me.”
Dunn, the son of an Air Force veteran and a Capitol Police officer for 15 years, told the committee he underwent multiple counseling sessions for the “persistent emotional trauma of that day.”
A highly produced two-minute campaign launch video he released depicts a dramatic reenactment of the Jan. 6 riots. In the scene, rioters ransack a hallway as Dunn walks calmly through them and talks to the camera about the threat of “bigots” in Congress who it was his duty to protect but who then “denied the violence and trauma that led to the death of some of my fellow officers.”
He left the Capitol Police in recent weeks to launch his campaign, resigning four years shy of being able to collect his full pension, he said.
“I think that I have shown myself to be proven, that I will stand up and fight and push back and sacrifice a lot,” Dunn said.
Beyond defending democracy, he said he was aligned with common Democratic Party priorities, including “common sense gun reform, the protection of women’s reproductive health, securing voting rights and lowering health care costs.” If elected, Dunn said he also was interested in working on improving Maryland’s infrastructure issues and on bills to increase mental health services and reduce the stigma associated with them.
Sarbanes, whose term ends in January 2025, is leaving Congress to pursue other interests. He does not plan to endorse a successor. The U.S. House district, which Sarbanes has occupied since 2007, is split between Howard and Anne Arundel counties, with a piece of Carroll County as well.
Dunn, a 6-foot-7 former James Madison University football player, lives outside the district. It is not a requirement that a U.S. House member live in the district they represent and Dunn said he looked forward to moving to the district, though he did not specify whether that would happen during the campaign or only after a potential victory.
Dunn joins a Democratic field that includes state Sen. Clarence Lam and Del. Terri Hill, both from Howard County, and state Sen. Sarah Elfreth and Dels. Mike Rogers and Mark Chang, who are from Anne Arundel County.
Republican Yuripzy Morgan, a lawyer and former WBAL-AM political talk show host who challenged Sarbanes in 2022, considered running for the GOP nomination but said Thursday she would opt against it.
An organizer with People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement, a group that’s pushing for reforms in Baltimore City government, Morgan said she wants to follow through on her commitment to the organization and the city. She also said former Republican President Donald Trump’s likely place at the top of the ballot would probably hurt a Republican on the ballot in the district this year.
“The amount of resources that it takes to differentiate yourself from that idea is a bit overwhelming,” Morgan said, referring to what she said is voters’ tendency to connect candidates to their party leaders, such as Trump, even if other candidates disagree with them.
Republicans who have announced for the race are Berney Flowers, of Howard County; Jordan Mayo, of Anne Arundel County; Naveed Mian, of Howard County; John Rea, of Baltimore City; and Robert J. Steinberger, of Anne Arundel County.
Other Democrats include Malcolm Thomas Colombo, of Anne Arundel County; Abigail Diehl, of Anne Arundel County; Juan Dominguez, of Anne Arundel County; Lindsay Donahue, of Anne Arundel County; Mark Gosnell, of Howard County; Matt Libber, of Howard County; Kristin Anne Lyman Nabors, of Anne Arundel County; Don Quinn, of Anne Arundel County; and Stewart Fred Silver, of Anne Arundel County.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, also of Howard County, considered running but said they chose not to.
The filing deadline is Feb. 9 for the May 14 primary.