Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn starts PAC after losing House run

Harry Dunn, the former Capitol Police officer who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 and unsuccessfully ran for a House seat in Maryland last month, is starting a new PAC to support candidates running against pro-Trump Republicans.

The group will be called Dunn’s Democracy Defenders, and it aims to stop former President Donald Trump and what Dunn calls “MAGA extremists” in the Republican Party from winning their elections this fall. Dunn plans to endorse candidates up and down the ballot through the group, using his personal story and his fundraising prowess to help in targeted races.

“The first thing I had to decide when you want to run for office is your why: Why are you doing this, why are you running?” Dunn told NBC News in an interview Tuesday, before he announced his plans Wednesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“My why is to do everything I can to protect the institution of Congress, to fight back against Donald Trump, to defend our Constitution, our democracy,” Dunn continued. “Even though I came up short in the election, there definitely is room for me to continue to fight.”

The group will inherit the money left over from Dunn’s campaign — though it won’t be clear how much until post-primary fundraising reports are due this summer.

Dunn, a 15-year veteran of the Capitol Police, says that the mob on Jan. 6 shouted racial slurs at him and attacked him, and he testified about his experience before the House committee investigating the attack and at the seditious conspiracy trial of members of the far-right Oath Keepers.

It’s against that backdrop that Dunn decided to run for Congress in Maryland this year. Despite his national recognition, endorsements from prominent members of Congress and significant