Atif Qarni

Atif Mustafa Qarni is an American teacher, former military non commissioned officer, and a Democratic politician who was appointed by Governor Ralph Northam as Virginia Secretary of Education. Immigrating from Karachi, Pakistan, with his family at the age of ten, Qarni grew up in Parkville, Maryland, before moving to Manassas, Virginia in 2005. He served in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and rose to the rank of Sergeant. He served as a paralegal at the international law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP before beginning a career in teaching. Qarni ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2013, losing to incumbent Bob Marshall, and for the Virginia Senate in 2015, losing the Democratic nomination to Jeremy McPike.