Former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who emerged as a national figure and activist after the Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021, announced a run for Congress in Maryland on Wednesday.
Dunn, a Democrat, has rapidly transformed into a well-known face and name in national politics in the years after he appeared and testified publicly at nationally televised hearings for the House January 6th Select Committee.
This will be Dunn’s second run for Congress, after an unsuccessful attempt to secure the Democratic nomination for a seat in Maryland’s 3rd District in 2024. This time, he is running in the nearby 5th District, which includes the eastern and southern suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The district is being vacated by Rep. Steny Hoyer, a longtime Democrat who previously served in leadership as House Majority Leader. Several other Democrats are contending for the deep-blue seat, including a state lawmaker who was endorsed by Hoyer.
Dunn was raised in the 5th District, which includes Prince George’s County, where Dunn was born, went to school and was a star athlete: “It’s home and it made me who I am,” he said.
“We need people here in Congress who are prepared to stand up and fight,” Dunn told CBS News. “I’m hearing the fear of the people in the district, as I speak at events in Maryland. People are scared now.”
Dunn said the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers had a disproportionate impact on the 5th District, where a large number of federal employees live and some federal offices are based.
Other Democrats have previously utilized Dunn’s political following by having him join fundraisers and political events to galvanize interest.
Dunn has been especially critical of President Trump, including his ongoing denial of the facts of the U.S. Capitol riot by Trump supporters.
“I have to respond to the rewriting of what happened that day,” Dunn said, “We refuse to let them happen.”
Trump pardoned more than 1,500 of the riot defendants, including those who beat and injured police officers. Trump has since sought to alter the history of Jan. 6, characterizing the prosecution of the convicted rioters as a “grave national injustice.”
The White House posted a page on its official government website last month with false claims about the attack, including that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that Capitol Police bear responsibility for the violence.
First elected in the early 1980s, Hoyer is a stalwart figure for House Democrats.
Maryland’s 5th District is reliably Democratic, and Hoyer easily won re-election in 2024 with more than 67% of the vote. But his upcoming retirement comes as Democrats continue to wrestle with tensions around generational change.
The race to succeed him already has notable dynamics on Democratic side as it draws a crowded field. And Dunn is entering the race after Hoyer already endorsed in the contest.
Among those already in the race are Quincy Bareebe, who lost a longshot primary run against Hoyer in 2024, and volunteer firefighter Harry Jarin, who started a primary run for the seat last May and said in an announcement news release at the time that “Steny represents a bygone era of politics that isn’t working for us anymore.”
After announcing he wouldn’t run for another term, Hoyer came out in support of Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate who had once worked as his campaign manager, to replace him.
“Adrian has proven his ability to deliver results,” Hoyer said in a social media post.
