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<h3>My campaign for Virginia's 8th Congressional District will feature three pillars:</h3><h5>Fighting for Feds</h5><h5>Fighting for the Middle Class</h5><h5>Fighting for a Safer and Kinder America</h5>

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<h2>Politics The Way It Should Be.</h2>

<h2>Good Government Matters. </h2>

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<h4></h4><img src="https://run.imgix.net/47ad69d4-4058-4a99-b16b-55249865ce63/3cdbe0dc-88e8-4321-860c-29970c60a8b1/d1224abf-3af5-49ed-9f62-bebc886df8d0.webp?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=-16&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C4096%2C2349&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"><h2>I’m Running for Virginia's 8th US Congressional Because...</h2><ul><li>Federal Workers are Under Attack</li><li>We Are Failing Our Traditional Allies</li><li>Domestic Terror Hate Groups Are On The Rise</li></ul><h4>There’s lots of work to be done and I have the experience to take it on.&nbsp;</h4><h4></h4>Michael Christian Duffin is a national security expert with 12 years experience at the U.S.Department of State. He kicked off his State Department journey as a Presidential ManagementFellow in 2013, making stops at the Bureau of Counterterrorism (2016-2025), the Pakistan desk,the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and the Bureau of European andEurasian Affairs. He won many awards boosting U.S. diplomacy and keeping the homelandsafe, including a Superior Honor Award, a Quality Step Increase, multiple Meritorious HonorAwards, and a Benjamin Franklin Award. He traveled to 25 countries on official business,visiting places like Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.He also spoke at the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe(OSCE), the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, and the South by Southwest festival.In 2016, Duffin developed some of the State Department’s first programs to tackle whitesupremacist groups. He also helped the State Department get dozens of cities worldwide to hopon board the Strong Cities Network, which the Obama administration launched at the UnitedNations in 2015 to empower mayors and other local leaders to fight hate and extremism.Michael understands we are stronger when we work together. In 2018, Duffin put together abipartisan group of mayors to chat about kindness and compassion with His Holiness theFourteenth Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamshala, India. Two years later, in the middle of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Duffin organized a virtual follow-up between the Dalai Lama and tons ofmayors around the world to brainstorm ways to combat polarization and isolation. In spite ofbuilding partnerships around the world to keep America safe, making major inroads todestroying white supremacy in America, and winning many awards for his exemplary work,Duffin was one of 1,300 foreign policy experts illegally fired by the Trump administration’s StateDepartment on July 11.Before his federal government experience, Duffin was a teacher and a journalist in the Chicagoarea. He taught English and journalism at Catholic high schools for four years, was an adjunctprofessor for six years, and spent four years as a substitute teacher at various private andpublic high schools. He also worked as a journalist for nearly two decades, covering breakingnews, sports, and reviewing music. With journalism under constant attack at home and abroad,we need someone like Michael in Congress to help keep our free press free. As a teenager, heflipped burgers at McDonald’s, worked at a grocery store, and washed cars at Ford andChevrolet dealerships.Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Duffin is the youngest of three kids. His dad,Michael F. Duffin, was a detective with the Chicago Police Department, and his mom, JuneDuffin (née Novak), worked in the medical industry. Duffin’s brother Richard is a lawyer with hisown practice in suburban Chicago, and his sister Lisa Castillo is an attorney with the State ofIllinois. Duffin’s paternal grandpa, Michael J. Duffin Jr., was a firefighter for the Chicago FireDepartment. His great-grandpa, Michael J. Duffin Sr., was 13 years old when he came throughEllis Island in 1893. He later became a foreman in the stockyards on Chicago’s South Side.Michael knows it isn’t the ultra wealthy who built this country, instead it was the hardworkingpeople of America who have made this the greatest country in the history of the World.Duffin went to St. Mary Star of the Sea Grammar School (1992) and Brother Rice High School(1996). Then he headed to DePaul University, where he spent three years on the studentnewspaper’s editorial staff and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 2000. Hethen went to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he earned a Masterof Science in Journalism in 2001. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Duffinlooked for ways to serve his country and eventually decided to go for a career with the StateDepartment. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Southern California’s AnnenbergSchool for Journalism and Communications with a Master of Public Diplomacy, which led to thePresidential Management Fellowship. Early in his State Department career, Duffin decided tocontinue his education with a Master of International Public Policy from Johns HopkinsUniversity’s School for Advanced International Studies. His student loan debt was wiped out in2023 thanks to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.Duffin lives in Alexandria’s West End neighborhood with his wife and their 1- and 7-year-old boys. Heenjoys attending concerts and sporting events. He is an avid student of history, particularly theRoman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. He has traveled to more than 60 countries across fivecontinents.

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So many people forgo higher paying jobs in the private sector to do something good for the World. Donald Trump thinks we are all societal parasites. &nbsp;In Congress I will defend the rights of federal employees and fight to empower experts in government to do the job that makes our society work. .&nbsp;

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Fighting for Federal Workers

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"We have the tools to eradicate hate but the administration is cutting them"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Far-right extremism is the terror threat we can’t ignore"Baltimore Sun Article

"Why is Trump killing programs designed to prevent terrorism?"Japan Times Article

I plan to work my ass off in Congress to start the long process of rebuilding our diplomatic apparatus. Rebuilding bridges of trust internationally isn’t going to be easy, but it must be done and I know how to do it.&nbsp;

International Diplomacy

"How Trump's actions at the State Dept. make America more vulnerable to another 9/11"MSNBC Article

I know the current administration is, at best, not interested in taking on the issue, at worst, openly supporting extremist groups' aspirations. I’m ready to get back to work exposing the most vile, hate driven organizations here at home, before it’s too late.&nbsp;

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My campaign for Virginia's 8th Congressional District will feature three pillars:

Fighting for Feds

Fighting for the Middle Class

Fighting for a Safer and Kinder America

news & press

Michael In The News

"Far-right extremism is the terror threat we can’t ignore"
Baltimore Sun Article

"How Trump's actions at the State Dept. make America more vulnerable to another 9/11"
MSNBC Article

"We have the tools to eradicate hate but the administration is cutting them"
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Politics The Way It Should Be.

Good Government Matters.

We Can Fix This.

We need a vision for a better future.