I’m Running for Virginia's 8th US Congressional Because...

• Federal Workers are Under Attack

• We Are Failing Our Traditional Allies

• Domestic Terror Hate Groups Are On The Rise

There’s lots of work to be done and I have the experience to take it on. 

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 Management

Fellow 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 and

Eurasian Affairs. He won many awards boosting U.S. diplomacy and keeping the homeland

safe, including a Superior Honor Award, a Quality Step Increase, multiple Meritorious Honor

Awards, 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 white

supremacist groups. He also helped the State Department get dozens of cities worldwide to hop

on board the Strong Cities Network, which the Obama administration launched at the United

Nations 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 a

bipartisan group of mayors to chat about kindness and compassion with His Holiness the

Fourteenth Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamshala, India. Two years later, in the middle of the

COVID-19 pandemic, Duffin organized a virtual follow-up between the Dalai Lama and tons of

mayors around the world to brainstorm ways to combat polarization and isolation. In spite of

building partnerships around the world to keep America safe, making major inroads to

destroying 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 State

Department on July 11.

Before his federal government experience, Duffin was a teacher and a journalist in the Chicago

area. He taught English and journalism at Catholic high schools for four years, was an adjunct

professor for six years, and spent four years as a substitute teacher at various private and

public high schools. He also worked as a journalist for nearly two decades, covering breaking

news, 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, he

flipped burgers at McDonald’s, worked at a grocery store, and washed cars at Ford and

Chevrolet 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, June

Duffin (née Novak), worked in the medical industry. Duffin’s brother Richard is a lawyer with his

own practice in suburban Chicago, and his sister Lisa Castillo is an attorney with the State of

Illinois. Duffin’s paternal grandpa, Michael J. Duffin Jr., was a firefighter for the Chicago Fire

Department. His great-grandpa, Michael J. Duffin Sr., was 13 years old when he came through

Ellis 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 hardworking

people 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 student

newspaper’s editorial staff and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 2000. He

then went to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he earned a Master

of Science in Journalism in 2001. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Duffin

looked for ways to serve his country and eventually decided to go for a career with the State

Department. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg

School for Journalism and Communications with a Master of Public Diplomacy, which led to the

Presidential Management Fellowship. Early in his State Department career, Duffin decided to

continue his education with a Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins

University’s School for Advanced International Studies. His student loan debt was wiped out in

2023 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. He

enjoys attending concerts and sporting events. He is an avid student of history, particularly the

Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. He has traveled to more than 60 countries across five

continents.