HLarry Dunn’s body was bruised and his Capitol Police uniform was soaked with sweat and pepper spray when he arrived home on January 6, 2021. He spent the day fighting with Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, absorbing body blows and racist taunts directed at him. Outside then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, Dunn distracted a group of Proud Boys dressed in tactical vests and body armor, allowing Pelosi’s team to escape. Months later, his moving testimony during the Committee hearings on January 6 made him a national figure and a regular guest on television news programs.
Now, Dunn is running for Congress in Maryland’s 3rd District, representing a swath of suburban cities between Baltimore and Washington, DC. Top Democratic leaders have rallied around her candidacy, seeing Dunn as a strong national voice who can help energize voters about threats to democracy.
But first he needs to win the primary on Tuesday, in which his chances are difficult to gauge. When Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes announced he would retire in November after serving in office for 17 years, a flood of interested candidates jumped into the race. Dunn is one of 22 names on the primary ballot, which also includes local heavyweights such as state senators Sarah K. Elfreth and Clarence Lam, who, unlike Dunn, can talk about their accomplishments in public office. The top vote-getter on May 14 will win the party’s nomination without a runoff and will likely win the solidly blue district in November.
Even in such a crowded field, Dunn managed to stand out. He has been endorsed by liberal luminaries including Reps. Jim Clyburn, Adam Schiff, Bennie Thompson and Pelosi, and is leading the field in fundraising with nearly $4 million. And during the campaign, the former police officer tempers his harsh condemnations of Trump with a relaxed demeanor and an affable smile. “He’s already an asset,” says Clyburn, the South Carolina congressman whose support was instrumental in Biden winning the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. “He can bring his experiences to the conference table or the hearing room. ”.
Dunn is running on a platform of bolstering women’s reproductive and voting rights, expanding affordable health care and banning AR-15 rifles. But mostly, Dunn says, voters want to talk to him about preventing another January 6th. “People are really disgusted with the way the MAGA faction of the Republican Party is taking this country downhill, that’s what I’ve been hearing. It gives me a lot of confidence because that’s my platform: pro-democracy, anti-Donald Trump,” says Dunn, sitting at a local restaurant in Ellicott City on Tuesday, where he spent two hours chatting with potential voters over coffee and desserts.
Recent news has drawn attention to a moment in Dunn’s past that he would rather forget: a four-day suspension from the Capitol Police in 2012 for failing to secure his firearm at home, which came to light when Montgomery County police responded to a family discussion. . No charges were filed in the incident. A Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility report made public by Punchbowl News includes the allegation that Dunn pointed a gun at his then-wife. Dunn denied that he did this. When asked about this by TIME, Dunn points to a joint statement from him and his ex-wife, released by his campaign weeks earlier, that says they sometimes argued when they got married. Asked how he felt that night, Dunn said he and his ex-wife have moved on. “We have a great co-parenting relationship,” he says, mentioning how they recently attended a White House holiday event with their son. “We went to the Easter Egg Roll with our daughter.”
At the Ellicott City Diner on Tuesday, voters who came to talk to Dunn did not mention these reports. Time and again, January 6 is the main topic of discussion. Paul Goldenberg, 72, lives in Colombia and believes electing Dunn to Congress will send a strong signal that his district rejects the effort to overturn the 2020 election and does not want a president who will be a “dictator from day one.” . as Trump previously said it would be. “Our democracy is at stake, I really believe that, and I feel very strongly that Harry will be on the side of where I want to be, and I think in a way, it’s symbolic, because of who he is and what he’s done. ”
Mike Marion, 69, says he changed his party registration from unaffiliated to Democrat to vote for Dunn in the primary. Marion is a former Capitol Police officer who retired more than a decade ago and didn’t know Dunn on the force, but she was impressed by what Dunn went through on Jan. 6 and how he testified to Congress about what happened that day. “He worked on the insurrection, so he dealt with that,” Marion says. “Give him a chance. I think he can do it.”
These are the sentiments that Dunn hopes will galvanize enough voters to support him — an outcome that many Democratic Party leaders are also counting on. “I fought the protesters with my hands on January 6th, and I hope to go back to fighting them with a pen instead of my fist this time,” says Dunn.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
