Harry Dunn, the ex-Capitol police officer who fought off rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, is running for Congress 'to stop Trump's MAGA extremists'

• Former US Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn on Friday announced his campaign run for Congress.
• Dunn said he'd run in Maryland's 3rd Congressional district and wanted to blunt the MAGA movement.
• "I wanna do everything in my power that I can do to fight back against him," Dunn told CNN of Trump.

Harry Dunn, a former US Capitol Police officer who fought off rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and testified about his experience before the House Jan. 6 select committee, announced on Friday that he's launching a bid for Congress.

On the day before the third anniversary of Jan. 6, Dunn announced his Democratic primary campaign for Maryland's 3rd Congressional district and pledged that if he's elected, he'd work to block former President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.

"On January 6th, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer," he wrote on X. "After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Citizens Medal. Today, I'm running for Congress to stop Trump's MAGA extremists & ensure it never happens again."

In Dunn's announcement video, he walks through a reenactment of the Jan. 6 riot, where he says his adherence to protecting the Constitution allowed him "to protect some members of Congress who I knew were bigots, who helped fan the flames that started all of this."

"Some of the same people who stood behind us when we protected them went back on the floor of Congress and stood behind Trump," he continued. "They voted to acquit him. And worst of all, they denied the violence and trauma that led to the death of some of my fellow officers."

Dunn, who is seeking to replace retiring Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, stepped down from the Capitol Police Department in recent weeks and said in a recent CNN interview that his potential election to Congress would allow him to bring accountability to Trump.

"I believe that as a Capitol Police Officer, I've exhausted everything that I could do in that role, in that capacity to fight, for accountability, to fight for justice, to preserve our democracy, to fight for a democracy," he told the network.

"I wanna do everything in my power that I can do to fight back against him," he continued. "As a congressman, that gives me a seat at the table now to hold him accountable."

On Saturday, the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, Dunn said that such an event "will happen again" if Americans don't hold firm to the concept of democracy.

Dunn has spoken openly about the racial slurs that were hurled at him during the riot, as well as the racist online abuse that he faced on social media and through email after he spoke before the Jan. 6 committee.

While Dunn hopes to make the jump to Congress in a strongly Democratic suburban district that under its current lines would have backed President Joe Biden with 62% of the vote, he'll face a slew of primary challengers in the 3rd district contest.

The Democratic candidates already in the race include Maryland state Sens. Sarah Elfreth and Clarence K. Lam; Maryland state Dels. Mark S. Chang, Terri L. Hill, and Mike Rogers; businesswoman Abigail Diehl; and nurse Kristin Lyman Nabors.