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Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn on Tuesday lost his bid to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo (D).
Boafo, Hoyer’s former campaign manager, won 32 percent of Democrats’ votes in the primary race, while Dunn trailed in third with 13.5 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ.
“So many people, when they see me, the first thing they saw is, ‘Thank you for your service,'” Dunn told WUSA9 after conceding to Boafo. “And I always respond with a ‘thank you’ because I don’t think people realize the little –– the big impact that they have in motivating me to keep going.”
It was Dunn’s second congressional run, having previously run for in 2024 in Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District. He placed second to Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.) in the primary.
Dunn launched his campaign in February. His announcement focused on his experience defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after a mob of pro-Trump supporters attempted to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results for former President Biden. Dunn was among the officers who testified before a House select committee investigation into the attack.
He told The Hill ahead of his campaign launch that the difference between this race and his prior race was that “we are actually living in a state where I believe that … a wannabe dictator is attempting to take over.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose office Dunn defended during the Capitol attack, endorsed him in March.
“On January 6, 2021, Harry Dunn bravely defended our democracy from Donald Trump’s violent MAGA mob,” Pelosi said in her endorsement. “Since then, Harry’s been called to do everything he can to protect Marylanders and all Americans from extremists like Donald Trump.”
Boafo won on a wave of financial support from pro-crypto PAC, Protect Progress, and United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which poured a total of $11 million to back his race, according to Federal Election Commission records through mid-June.
Hoyer announced his retirement from Congress in January, after 45 years of service in the lower chamber. He backed Boafo in the race to succeed him.
The state delegate also received endorsements from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).
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