Former Cop Who Defended Capitol On Jan. 6 Running For Congress In MD

MARYLAND — A former police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol from rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, is running for Congress in Maryland, he announced on social media Friday.

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Harry Dunn said he would be running in the Democratic primary to replace Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election for his 3rd District seat.

Dunn made the announcement a day before the third anniversary of the attack at the U.S. Capitol where supporters of former Donald Trump attempted to disrupt a joint session of Congress that gathered to certify the 2020 presidential election results.

In the announcement, Dunn said Trump is "hell-bent on finishing what he started" three years ago.

"On January 6th, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer," Dunn wrote on X. "Today, I’m running for Congress to stop Trump's MAGA extremists & ensure it never happens again."

Dunn is running in Maryland's 3rd Congressional District, which stretches between Baltimore and the nation's capital. The race already has drawn five state legislators to run in the heavily Democratic district, which includes all of Howard County, plus parts of Anne Arundel County and Carroll County.

In the video, Dunn said he left the U.S. Capitol Police force a few weeks ago to run for Congress. He served on the force for more than 15 years.

"I'm stepping into a new role today, but I can't do it alone," Dunn said. "I believe every one of us has a role to play in this fight. So join me. We've got a democracy to protect."

Dunn, who testified before the Jan. 6 committee in Washington, told lawmakers about an exchange he had with rioters who had fully bought into Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen and believed “nobody voted for Joe Biden.”

In his testimony before Congress in 2021, Dunn, who is Black, described how rioters yelled racial slurs at him after he told them that he voted for Biden and that his vote should be counted. Dunn said a crowd of Capitol intruders yelled a racial slur at him, something that never happened while he was on duty during more than a dozen years on the force.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.