CHICAGO — Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn addressed the Pennsylvania delegation at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, two months after some Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers booed and heckled him in Harrisburg.
Dunn and former sergeant Aquilino Gonell were invited as guests to June 5 Session of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and welcomed by Speaker of the House of Representatives Joanna McClinton.
“The crazy thing was that my presence upset them, I didn’t even say anything,” Dunn said Wednesday. “I just showed up and they just walked off the court in protest.”
He said he was surprised at first, “but then you think, OK, come out, because that’s what you do. You come out. You put on a posture, you pout, but you don’t fight. You don’t fight for the people,” he said. “They don’t care about other people. Republicans don’t care about anyone but themselves. Democrats care about the people.”
Dunn, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Maryland earlier this year, clashed with rioters on Jan. 6 as they took over the U.S. Capitol while he was helping to secure former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office that day. Gonell, an Army veteran, described being beaten with a flagpole, which he said required two surgeries. Gonell resigned from the Capitol Police in 2022.
They both have campaigned for the Biden-Harris candidacy in this election cycle.
“Before Jan. 6, I was just a police officer who saw all kinds of demonstrations, anyone who came to the Capitol to peacefully, peacefully express their displeasure with the government. I had to listen to them,” Dunn said Wednesday. (*6*)
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) also addressed the Pennsylvania Democratic convention crowd Wednesday, noting Democrats’ successes on infrastructure in his state and in Pennsylvania.
“I sat there for four years under Donald Trump. We had infrastructure week, we had infrastructure month, we had infrastructure lunch. We just never had an infrastructure bill,” Raskin said. “Joe Biden got elected. We got this bill in his first week in office, we passed $1.2 trillion in investments in roads and acquisitions and highways, ports, airports, the infrastructure of the country. And I know how important that was to Maryland and I know how important it is to the people of Pennsylvania.”
State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) described how the excitement surrounding Harris-Walz’s candidacy could spill over into the lower house election, which could lend a hand Pennsylvania Democrats take control of the upper chamber.
“It has energized us locally and energized us statewide, so we will be successful,” Costa said. Republicans currently hold a 28-22 Senate seat advantage, but some Political analysts believe the chamber could potentially be reversible“Because what does it mean when we have a Democratic majority in the Senate: That brings us to the trifecta.”
Of course, that assumes Democrats maintain their majority in the state House of Representatives: They must win two runoff elections on Sept. 17 — the ninth and 10th such elections this session — to retain their one-seat majority when the House reconvenes next month.
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