Dave Heller is one of the Democratic Party’s top media consultants and campaign strategists. As president of Main Street Communications, Dave has helped elect or reelect 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 out of 19 general election open seat races for Congress (open seats being the most hotly contested races).
Dave has repeatedly helped his clients win some of the nation’s toughest races. He’s produced all the TV and radio ads for Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), who in 2024 was one of only two Democrats nationally to win re-election in an R+8 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! Dave also helped re-elect Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.) by 13 points in a majority-white district that borders Alabama for 150 miles. In 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018, Dave helped re-elect Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.) in a district where Hillary Clinton won barely 30%. He’s also helped elect Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.) in an R+13 district, Rep. Joe Donnelly (Ind.) in an R+5 seat, and Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.) in a district Democrats had not won in twelve years.
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 (11) than any other media consultant, including current and former U.S. Reps. Frank Ballance (D-N.C.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), David Scott (D-Ga.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Albert Wynn (D-Md.). Heller also has made all of the ads for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in a plurality-Hispanic district.
Dave has also 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 helped his clients win many County Executive and mayoral races. He helped elect Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, and Jefferson County (Ky.) Executive Greg Fischer. He’s also helped elect a number of mayors, including Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. He helped elect the first woman mayor of Cleveland, Jane Campbell; the first African-American mayor in St. Louis, Freeman Bosley, Jr.; and the first Democrat in 16 years in Syracuse, Matt Driscoll.
Dave is best known for his creative TV and radio ads: he has been awarded 18 Pollie Awards from his peers at the American Association of Political Consultants for his ads and 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 Masters Degree in Politics from Oxford University (Nuffield College). He went on to Yale University, where he taught his own seminar on 20th Century political protest movements. An avid baseball fan, Dave owns the Quad Cities River Bandits, the Kansas City Royals’ Advanced-A affiliate; in 2021, Ballpark Digest named the Bandits its “Minor League Team of the Year.” The team’s ballpark, Modern Woodmen Park, was twice voted “Best Minor League Ballpark in America” by USA Today and 10Best.com. Dave has earned the “Best Ballpark Improvement Award” from Ballpark Digest a record five times; the Bandits also won “Best Charitable Campaign” for their charity-related work in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 (no other team has ever won twice); and his 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.