Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn launched a new political group on Wednesday aimed at supporting pro-Democratic candidates while targeting Donald Trump and “anti-democratic MAGA extremists.”
Dan is launching a hybrid political action committee called “Dan’s Democracy Defenders” that will back candidates with every vote who will “protect our democracy from MAGA and take big money out of politics,” according to a press release announcing his announcement, while also targeting “insurrectionists” and others who pose a threat to democracy.
In a statement announcing the new group, Dunn said he would specifically target both those seeking to undermine democracy and special financial interests.
“Our democracy is under threat. MAGA extremists are trying to end our democracy. Big Super PACs are trying to buy our democracy and turn it to their advantage. Now more than ever, our democracy needs a defender,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn rose to prominence as one of the many Capitol Police officers who protected lawmakers during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He testified before a House select committee investigating the 2022 attack on the Capitol about the efforts he and others made to secure the breached Capitol.
Dunn’s announcement came just two weeks after he ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary to compete for the seat of retiring Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) in Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District, where he lost to state Sen. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.).
In an interview with The Hill prior to announcing his candidacy, Dunn said of his reasons for running for Congress, “My goal was clear – to protect the Constitution and fight for democracy.”
“Running for office taught me a lot. I saw a lot. I saw how elections are run. I saw the power of people working to make their voices heard over the voices of the people,” Dunn explained of running for Congress. “And I thought, ‘Hey, let’s keep doing this, because the only way we’re going to protect our democracy is to have individuals who are democracy fighters, fighters for democracy.’
Dunn declined to say which candidates he would endorse or target ahead of the 2024 elections and said he didn’t have a specific timeline for when he would make an announcement, but said “we definitely want to move quickly with election season approaching.”
He told The Hill that no race is too big or too small for him to be involved in.
The hybrid PAC (aka the Carey committee) maintains two separate bank accounts: one for donating to candidates, which has contribution limits, and a separate spending account that can accept unlimited amounts from groups and individuals.
Dunn spoke candidly about the role a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) played in endorsing Elfreth in the primary. I wrote about X before the primary election. “A super PAC funded by MAGA extremist donors who also gave to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Lauren Boebert has poured $500,000 into our election. They are trying to buy this election. They will fail.”
When asked whether AIPAC was included in the “massive super PACs trying to buy our democracy” mentioned in the statement, he said he was not just targeting pro-Israel groups.
Asked what he would say to skeptics who may see the hybrid PAC as simply a group that throws money at politics because it contains elements of both a PAC and a super PAC, Dunn emphasized that the group is a “grassroots effort.”
“I’ve set fundraising records and broken records, and it’s all because of ordinary people,” Dunn said of his House race. “And that’s what I continue to pursue with this PAC.”
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