Dave Heller is one of the Democratic Party’s top media consultants and campaign strategists. As president of Main Street, Dave has produced election-winning TV and radio ads for 30 different Members of Congress and has compiled the best won-loss record in the Democratic Party helping elect clients to Congress. Dave's clients have won 15 of 19 general election open-seat races for Congress (open seats being the most hotly contested).
Dave has repeatedly helped his clients win the nation’s toughest races. He produced all the TV and radio ads for U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), who in 2024 was one of only two House Democrats to win re-election in an R+7 district or worse. In 2022, Kaptur garnered the highest winning percentage of any Democrat running in a Trump district – and the highest percentage above President Biden’s 2020 vote of any of the 435 Members of Congress!
Helping Democrats win in “red districts” is what Dave does best. In 2024, Dave helped re-elect U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.) by 13 points in a rural district that borders Alabama for 150 miles. In 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018, Dave helped re-elect Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.) in an R+19(!) district where Hillary Clinton won barely 30%. He’s also helped elect U.S. Reps. Mike McIntyre (N.C.) in an R+13 district, Joe Donnelly (Ind.) in an R+4 seat, and helped John Yarmuth (Ky.) defeat a GOP incumbent in a district Democrats had not won since 1992.
What makes Dave’s success unique is the ideological diversity of his clients. Dave has helped elect and re-elect more African-Americans to Congress than any other media consultant, including current and former U.S. Reps. Frank Ballance (N.C.), Sanford Bishop (Ga.), Corrine Brown (Fla.), John Conyers (Mich.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Ill.), John Lewis (Ga.), David Scott (Ga.), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Al Wynn (Md.), and the late Elijah Cummings (Md.) who in 2003 performed Dave’s wedding. Dave also made all of the ads for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) throughout his career.
At the same time, Dave has helped elect many of the "Blue Dog" Democrats in Congress, the party's most conservative voices, including their co-founder, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.). Other "Blue Dog" clients have included U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Allen Boyd (D-Fla.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Ken Lucas (D-Ky.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), David Phelps (D-Ill.), and David Scott (D-Ga.).
Dave has also won many mayoral races. He helped elect former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and former Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. He also helped elect the first woman mayor of Cleveland, Jane Campbell; the first African-American mayor in St. Louis, Freeman Bosley, Jr.; the first Democrat in 16 years in Syracuse, Matt Driscoll; and businessman Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville/ Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Dave is best known for his creative TV and radio ads: he has earned 19 Pollie Awards from his peers at the American Association of Political Consultants for his ads. In 1996, Dave was named a “Rising Star in American Politics” by Campaigns & Elections magazine. Dave graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Brown University and earned a Master's Degree in Politics (M.Litt) from Oxford University (Nuffield College). He also taught his own undergraduate seminar at Yale University.
An avid baseball fan, Dave owns the minor league Quad Cities River Bandits, the Kansas City Royals’ Advanced-A affiliate and the only Midwest League club to win four championships in ten seasons, and the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Washington Nationals’ Advanced-A affiliate. The River Bandits were named “Team of the Year” by Ballpark Digest for 2021 and the team’s ballpark was three times named “Best Minor League Ballpark in America” by readers of USA Today and 10Best.com.
Five times, Dave’s club has won Ballpark Digest’s “Best Ballpark Improvement Award.” The team also won Ballpark Digest’s “Commitment to Charity” award in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 (no other team has won twice) and multiple U.S. Army Gold Awards for community service. In 2016, Dave’s organization, Main Street Baseball, was named Minor League Baseball Organization of the Year. He and his wife, June, have two teenage sons – Dylan and Cade.