David Pepper

David Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, former elected official, adjunct professor, and served as Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party between 2015 and 2021. In that role, he was engaged in numerous fights and extensive litigation over voter suppression and election laws in the Buckeye State. Stemming from that work, David appeared in “All In,” the documentary highlighting Stacey Abrams’ nation-wide fight for voting rights. David has written a number of books, including his most recent, titled, “Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual.” Pepper has published the political non-fiction Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines and four novels integrating real-world politics and fiction —including A Simple Choice, The People’s House, The Wing Man, and The Voter File. The Wall Street Journal named Pepper “one of the best political-thriller writers on the scene.”  

He also teaches election and voting rights law as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Pepper earned his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and later earned his J.D. from Yale Law School. Early in his career, David clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and worked in the Cincinnati offices of major law firms Squire Sanders and Blank Rome, focusing his practice on commercial and business litigation, and appellate litigation.

Between his undergraduate and law school years, David spent three years doing international work in St. Petersburg, Russia as a research intern for Zbigniew Brzezinski in which he interacted with international figures such as Henry Kissinger, Paul Bremer, ambassadors, members of Congress, business leaders, and Vladimir Putin, who was then Vice Mayor of St. Petersburg.