Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer whose violent clashes with former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters on and after January 6, 2021, brought him political fame, was greeted like a celebrity on Tuesday evening in Annapolis, Maryland.
But there was also an underlying skepticism among patrons at the Beacon Waterfront Restaurant, where he appeared at a campaign rally to support his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives.
“We have a person here with proven legislative experience,” Jessica Sunshine, a Democrat from Annapolis, told Mr. Dunn, referring to State Senator Sarah Elfreth, his primary opponent in next month’s Democratic primary. But she added: “You have heart.”
But Mr. Dunn, an imposing former offensive lineman who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, did not shy away from the reason he is running: to save what he sees as a democracy on the brink of collapse looks at. “At this moment, right now? It takes a fighter,” he said.
He’s not the only one making this point to Democrats.
Over the next three months, primaries in three Mid-Atlantic House districts — from the outskirts of Washington, D.C. to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — will test the strength of memories of Jan. 6 and whether the rallying cry of “Save Democracy.” There will be enough to endure, even for Democratic voters who have many other concerns.
For many voters, partisan celebrity is virtually the only factor in their support for candidates like Mr. Dunn, who played a starring role in the Jan. 6 hearings, and Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene and appears alongside his identical twin brother, Alexander played a key role in highlighting Mr. Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Margaret Pepin, 71, couldn’t believe it when Mr. Vindman rang her video doorbell in Occoquan, Virginia, on Tuesday afternoon and his distinctive face, made famous during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, appeared on her security screen. “I looked at my ring. I said, ‘Is it really him?'” she said, admitting that she may have confused him with his better-known twin brother. “I’m excited.”
The celebrity candidate factor has allowed the “Save Democracy” candidates to raise so much money across the country that these less experienced Democrats will dominate the airwaves. But with issues like abortion, guns, inflation and immigration competing for attention, their victories are not guaranteed — even in the Democratic primary, where a threat to democracy will be a central theme in a year when Trump is on the ballot .
“There’s certainly a small group of people for whom it’s not enough,” Mr. Vindman said of his campaign’s focus. “But the vast majority of people believe that democracy is the most important issue because they see it the same way I do. All other topics are taken into account.”
Voters will soon have their say.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic voters will go to the polls April 23 to choose between front-runners Janelle Stelson and Mike O’Brien and four other candidates, all hoping to take on Rep. Scott Perry, a conservative Republican, who was deeply enmeshed in Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election.
Mr. O’Brien, a former Marine Corps officer and fighter pilot, has made preserving democracy the focus of his candidacy. Ms. Stelson, a well-known former television news anchor, has made this issue one of many.
Mr. Dunn is one of 22 Democrats vying to succeed retiring Rep. John Sarbanes in Maryland’s May 14 primary, which will almost certainly decide the next House member for the state’s heavily Democratic Third District becomes. His opponents include Ms. Elfreth, a senator with the support of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, two veteran members of the Maryland House of Delegates and a prominent gun control activist.
Mr. Vindman – another new candidate – is seeking to replace Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor and hopes primary voters in her narrowly Democratic district will side with him over seven other Democrats on June 18.
Mr. Vindman, an Army colonel who was fired from Mr. Trump’s National Security Council because of his connection to the first impeachment inquiry, and Mr. Dunn, the former Capitol Police officer, have become darlings of the Democratic activist group and have gained major benefits at the Fundraising.
The money has followed the “Save Democracy” movement.
Mr. Vindman raised more than $2 million by the end of last year, including $1.5 million from donors whose contributions were too small to require disclosure. Among the bigger talents are Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, and the actor Mark Hamill, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker and, more narrowly, as an ardent opponent of Mr. Trump.
His closest fundraising competitor, Margaret Franklin, a Prince William County supervisor, raised $122,894.
Because Mr. Dunn only officially began his campaign in January, he has not yet had to disclose his fundraising figures, but campaign officials say he will announce first-quarter totals next week that will be nearly $3.7 million. His closest competitor, Ms. Elfreth, raised just over $400,000 last year but receives significant financial support from outside groups.
Not surprisingly, the high-profile candidacies of Mr. Vindman and Mr. Dunn have raised some eyebrows among elected Democrats who had served in local offices and were waiting for a chance to run for the House. In both races, women, many of whom are minorities, are particularly affected.
“Yes, this campaign is about saving democracy, but it is also about reclaiming civil, human and women’s rights gains that people have fought and died for and are being lost,” said Terri L. Hill, a Maryland physician who has served as a member of the House of Representatives for nearly a decade.
“I have great respect for his heroism,” she said of Mr. Dunn. “I really respect what he did on January 6, 2021, but I’m really focused on January 6, 2025,” when the next Congress takes office.
The race for Maryland’s Third District could be the purest version of the celebrity-worker tension: Mr. Dunn, a political newcomer, faces Ms. Elfreth, a veteran lawmaker who has pushed through 84 bills since becoming the youngest woman state senator in the history of Maryland in 2018.
Mr. O’Brien called Mr. Perry’s role in the 2020 effort to overturn the election his “No. 1 issue,” and believes voters agree. “The primary concern for Democrats in the primaries is democracy itself,” he said.
But with the April 23 primary just weeks away, Mr. O’Brien is seen as an underdog to Ms. Stelson, who is more nuanced when she talks about women’s rights, abortion access and the prices of gasoline and groceries.
“That’s certainly a big part of the story,” she said of Jan. 6 and Mr. Perry. “That’s not the whole story.”
But for national Democrats, the district with the most at stake may be in Virginia, as the party cannot afford to lose a seat it currently holds. Democratic opponents worry about Mr. Vindman’s vulnerabilities — he is a relative newcomer to Northern Virginia, voting there for the first time in 2022.
His 25 years as an Army lawyer should serve him well, even with some Republican voters in a district with four military installations, he said. But sometimes he slips into the language of the ardent Trump enemies who have embraced him.
“Will there be people who hate me for what I did to their orange prophet?” he asked, referring to Mr. Trump. “Undoubtedly.”
Source link
2024-04-11 09:06:25
www.nytimes.com