Officer who defended the Capitol on January 6 to run for Congress in Maryland

Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who rose to fame for his defense of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and for his emotional public testimony describing the attack, announced Friday that he was running for Congress in the Third District of Maryland.

“On January 6, 2021, I did my duty as a police officer and as an American and defended our nation’s Capitol from violent insurrectionists,” Mr. Dunn said in a statement. “Today I am running for Congress because the forces that incited this violent attack are still at work, and as a patriotic American it is my duty to defend our democracy.”

Dunn, 40, will enter a crowded Democratic primary field to replace Rep. John Sarbanes, the retiring 17-year incumbent. Five state lawmakers have already announced their campaigns to represent Maryland’s central district, which snakes between Washington and Baltimore. Whoever emerges from the primary in the predominantly Democratic district will almost certainly win the general election.

Mr. Dunn, a member of the Capitol Police for 15 years, was one of four officers who testified at the first public hearing of the House committee investigating the pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol, where lawmakers had gathered to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. He described how fellow officers bled in battle and how rioters used racial slurs against him.

“I sat down on a couch with a friend of mine, who is also a Black Capitol police officer, and told him about the racial insults I had suffered,” Mr. Dunn recalled during a memorable portion of the testimony. He added that he “became very emotional,” wondered how something like this could happen and shouted, “Is this America?”

“I started sobbing and officers came over to comfort me,” he said.

In 2023, President Biden awarded Mr. Dunn the Presidential Citizens Medal in recognition of his role in protecting the Capitol.

Mr. Dunn grew up in the Washington suburbs of Prince George’s County, Maryland, and graduated from James Madison University in Virginia, where he played football and helped lead the team to its first national title.

He has written a book entitled ‘Standing My Ground’.