politics
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – For Derrick Evans to be a part of the mob that stormed the US Capitol wasn't enough. The former West Virginia lawmaker desires to make his path to the halls of Congress everlasting.
On the opposite side of the metal barricades that day, Police Officer Harry Dunn couldn't stand what he saw as he defended the Capitol and its residents from rioters on January 6, 2021. Ultimately, the Maryland resident watched the lawmakers he protected Vote to acquit former President Donald Trump And Deny the violence and trauma This led to the death of a few of his fellow officers.
On Tuesday, Evans and Dunn will run for seats within the U.S. House of Representatives within the primaries of their respective states. They go into the election with wildly different interpretations of the events that day, and their performance in Tuesday's primaries in West Virginia and Maryland could provide a sign of whether voters' views on the attack and its significance are changing over time has modified.
For a complete afternoon, rioters terrorized the Capitol with pipes, bats and bear spray. They used flagpoles as weapons, brutally beat law enforcement officials, chanted they desired to hang Vice President Mike Pence, broke through glass and stormed doors as lawmakers frantically evacuated. A person from Georgia bragged about “feeding” a police officer to the mob. More than 100 law enforcement officials were injured, many beaten and bleeding. At least nine individuals who were there died during and after the riots, including a female rioter who was shot by police.
More than 1,350 people were charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 850 of them were convicted – around two thirds received prison sentences starting from a number of days to 30 years 22 years.
The two candidacies “symbolize a shift by both major parties in their commitment to law and order,” said Timothy Naftali, a senior researcher at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
It's remarkable, Naftali said, that on the identical day a former police officer could grow to be a Democratic candidate, while Republicans could select Evans “an unrepentant felon” who “proudly flaunts the fact that on January 6th he won against.” violated the law.”
“This is a split screen that maybe you couldn't have imagined 15 years ago,” he said.
While Evans is taken into account a longshot to unseat an incumbent and lacks the fundraising advantage that Dunn enjoys in Maryland, their candidacies at the very least raise the likelihood that they are going to serve together while sharing starkly different views on the violence and destruction represented by Jan. 6. But even when Dunn wins and Evans loses, he could be serving alongside dozens of Republicans who now view the defendants as “hostages.”
Dunn, a 40-year-old Democrat, resigned from the Capitol Police last December after greater than 15 years of service. He was 4 years wanting pension entitlement.
“I am running for Congress because the forces that drove this violent attack on January 6 are still at work in our country today, and as a patriotic American, I believe it is my duty to defend our democracy.” said Dunn.
According to his latest campaign finance report from the Federal Election Commission, Dunn leads all candidates by a large margin in fundraising within the race for Maryland's third District. He has raised $4.6 million and has a money balance of $714,000.
Evans, a 39-year-old Republican and avid Trump supporter, describes himself because the only elected official who “had the courage” to get behind efforts to temporarily halt the certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory . He livestreamed himself on Facebook, cheering on what he called a “revolution.”
Evans was arrested two days after the riot and resigned his seat within the West Virginia House of Delegates a month before the 2021 legislative session. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and served three months in prison. At the sentencing hearing, Evans apologized for his actions, but as he left prison he made a U-turn. He began portraying himself as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution.
Evans once called himself a Democrat and finished sixth out of seven candidates in a 2016 state House of Representatives primary. He then switched to the Libertarian Party in the overall election, ending last amongst five candidates.
Evans is running against West Virginia's 1st Congressional District Rep. Carol Miller, also a serious Trump supporter. In 2022, Miller received 66% of the vote in a five-candidate GOP primary en path to her third term in Congress.
Miller focuses on her own accomplishments and proposals, not criticism of Evans or his status as a Jan. 6 defendant.
“I don’t think about him at all,” she said.
Thin is one in all nearly two dozen Democrats Running in Maryland's third Congressional District, where incumbent Democrat John Sarbanes isn’t looking for re-election. The heavily Democratic jurisdiction stretches between Baltimore and the nation's capital.
Trump and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik have called the defendants jailed on Jan. 6 “hostages,” reflecting a changing tone amongst some conservatives regarding the violent try to overturn the election results. Evans wrote a book in 2023 called “Political Prisoner: The Untold Story of January 6th.”
“I kind of think it fits into the general theme of what is seen as accepted political behavior among some Republicans in the 2020s, which probably wouldn't have been the case 10 to 20 years ago,” said Scott Crichlow, an associate professor in political science at West Virginia University. “Specifically, I think it fits within Derrick Evans’ general range of behavior. But that also seems to fit more and more, at least among some Republicans, with what you want to see and say from the candidates today.”
Later this month, one other defendant convicted on Jan. 6, construction manager Chuck Hand, is running for a Republican primary within the U.S. House of Representatives within the 2nd District in southwest Georgia. Hand will face three other Republicans on May 21 for the best to run against longtime Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop. Hand and his wife, Mandy Robinson-Hand, were convicted of parading and picketing in front of the Capitol. Both were sentenced to twenty days in federal prison.
Both Hand and Evans repeat Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Dunn is repulsed by this rhetoric.
“I will not stand idly by as Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress try to tear our country apart,” he said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
It stays to be seen how legitimate the rioters' candidacies are. None of those looking for public office have thus far found much favor with voters.
In New Hampshire, Capitol riot defendant Jason Riddle plans to run in a crowded GOP primary for the state's 2nd District U.S. House seat. The deadline for candidates to use for the September 10 primary is early June. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster announced in March that she’s going to not seek a seventh term. Puzzle was sentenced to 90 days in prison for grabbing wine from a lawmaker's liquor cabinet and stealing a Senate procedure book that he later sold.
In Arizona, Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying rioter whose horned fur hat, bare torso and face paint made him one in all the riot's most recognizable figures, served about 27 months of a 41-month sentence. He hoped to run as a Libertarian for Arizona's eighth Congressional District seat, but missed the deadline to submit the required petition signatures to position his name on the ballot.
Tuesday's primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will provide a more tangible test.
“On the one hand, Evans sees it as something to be proud of. Dunn sees it as something that should never happen again,” Crichlow said. “And in that way, these two campaigns capture really fundamentally different perspectives on the last few years in politics and what politics will look like in the future.”
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