ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Democratic voters in Maryland’s state capital and affluent suburbs south and west of Baltimore have a tough decision when choosing their likely next member of Congress on Tuesday.
They can elect a former police officer launched to national stardom after defending the Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot, or one of their state legislators who has passed bills focused on local bread-and-butter issues like health care, green jobs, flooding and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.
After Jan. 6, Harry Dunn became one of the faces representing the hundreds of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect the Capitol when it was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Dunn gave emotional testimony during the televised committee hearings investigating Jan. 6, became a fixture on the cable news circuit, and wrote a book last fall about the ordeal and his life.
“I’d be a liar if I didn’t tell you I was anxious and a little stressed out about this whole process. I mean, I literally walked away from a long-term career in the federal government,” Dunn, 40, said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.
“But at the end of the day, I could not live with myself if I had an opportunity to try to do something to stop the agenda that Donald Trump has,” Dunn continued, adding: “He said that he wants to be a dictator, and you have members of Congress that will back him in that. So I think at this moment, we need fighters right now, and I think I’m the right person for the job.”
A Maryland native, Dunn doesn’t live in the state’s deep-blue 3rd Congressional District — he says he lives about 9 miles outside of it and has family who reside there — but the former cop’s national stature and celebrity have helped boost his fundraising to staggering levels. The political newcomer has raked in roughly $4.6 million since announcing his bid in January to replace retiring nine-term Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, dwarfing the cash raised by his two top primary rivals, state Sens. Sarah Elfreth and Clarence Lam.
As Trump seeks a political comeback this fall, Democratic voters here are wrestling with the question of whether they want to be represented by a man who literally battled rioters seeking to keep Trump in power or choose from experienced legislators who have a track record of delivering in the district.
Elfreth “has a lot of goodwill. She’s worked really hard in the General Assembly, so she’s kind of the inside,” said former Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md. “And then you’ve got Harry Dunn, who’s captured the national imagination. And he has to figure out how to turn that into a political win.”
‘I voted for her, not against him’
Outside an early-voting site at the Broadneck Library in Annapolis, Kathryn Schulke said she and her husband had cast their votes for Elfreth, who tried to help her family find vaccines during the pandemic.
“I actually called one day and she actually answered the phone, which completely caught me by surprise,” Schulke, a retired registered nurse, said Thursday. She’d had trouble getting a vaccine for her son, who has cystic fibrosis.
“She couldn’t actually solve the problem for me,” Schulke continued, “but her compassion and her ability to listen and her ability to understand and then to further tell me what she was doing, I’m probably a Sarah Elfreth voter for life.”
“I voted for her, not against him,” she added.
Moments later, Elfreth arrived at the library with a campaign aide to thank voters for showing up. Foot traffic was light at the early-voting site, but a mother and her two young daughters spotted Elfreth and walked over. The mother noted that one of Elfreth’s priorities is protecting the environment, and the state senator pointed out that Democratic Gov. Wes Moore earlier that day had signed her bill into law that expands solar energy in Maryland.
“The folks that I talk to on the trail … really want somebody who has a track record of getting things done. Legislating isn’t easy. It’s an art form to negotiate and work with others who oppose you,” Elfreth, 35, said in an interview.
These are “people who are on opposite sides of an issue, and how do you bring them together and work through the details and find common ground and get things done on behalf of your constituents. It’s not an easy feat, and I love that part of the job; I do it well. I pass more bills at the statehouse than any of my colleagues.”
Lam, 43, a physician on faculty at Johns Hopkins University, is the only physician and only Asian American in the state Senate. He’s also touting his legislative record, specifically his work on health policy, including capping the cost of insulin and expanding Medicaid to ensure all mothers get greater access to prenatal and postnatal care.
“When it comes to a lot of the work that I’ve done, much of it has been in the health care and public health space,” Lam said.
Pro-Israel group spends big
Elfreth has raised nearly $1.5 million through late April, while Lam has pulled in roughly $736,000. The 19 other candidates in the crowded field, including state Delegates Mark Chang, Terri Hill and Mike Rogers, are far behind.
Despite Dunn’s huge fundraising advantage, the spending dynamics have shifted in recent weeks. United Democracy Project, a super PAC tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel group, pumped more than $4 million into the race backing Elfreth — most of that in TV ads airing in the Baltimore market.
“It sucks, to be blunt,” said Dunn, who has repeatedly expressed support for Israel. “Because, yes, I have been doing the work. I’ve been out there [getting] grassroots support.”
“It’s disheartening to see that our democracy is now up for sale for whatever interests are able to dump in millions of dollars behind their preferred candidate,” added Lam.
Under federal law, Elfreth can’t coordinate with the super PAC, and she said she has no idea why she’s getting air cover from UDP, which did not respond to a request for comment.
She said her and Dunn’s positions on Israel and the Gaza war are not very different: “I believe in a long-term, two-state solution, a lasting two-state solution, an end to the violence, a return of the hostages, very similar to everyone else.”
In a recent ad, dubbed “Choice,” Dunn’s campaign knocked Elfreth for receiving support from a “right-wing super PAC funded by Trump donors” and “voting 44 times with Republicans.” Some of UDP’s largest donors typically give to GOP campaigns and groups.
Elfreth said she’s unapologetic about her bipartisan record and working across the aisle. “It’s funny, because I’ve been called a lot of names in my life,” she said. “But MAGA Republican isn’t one of them.”
‘Is this America?’
For 15 years, Dunn was a familiar face in the halls of the Capitol, and a hard-to-miss one at that, standing at 6-foot-7. But he rose to national prominence after delivering powerful congressional testimony about Jan. 6.
The bipartisan panel investigating the riot held an initial hearing with four law enforcement officers, including Dunn, to mark the start of its fact-finding mission.
“I sat down on a bench with a friend of mine who is also a Black Capitol Police officer, and told him about the racial slurs I had endured,” Dunn told the panel, recollecting his experience during the Capitol riots. “I became very emotional and began yelling, ‘How the [expletive] can something like this happen? Is this America?’”
Dunn went on to attend nearly every hearing the committee held. Throughout the process, he grew closer with members of the panel and with Democratic members of House leadership — several of whom endorsed his candidacy, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
But Dunn said there is more to his candidacy than his actions on Jan. 6.
“I care about, you know, affordable health care. I care about affordable housing, I care about banning assault rifles, AR-15s. I care about those things. I care about voting rights. I care about codifying Roe v. Wade into federal legislation,” he said. “There’s so many things more than just ‘Jan. 6 Harry Dunn.’”
Dunn added that he surprised “a lot of people” on the campaign trail. “When they say, ‘Oh, wow, you’re more than just a Trump hater’ — I mean, I wear that as a badge of honor,” he joked.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
