David Beard was born on the far eastern tip of Kentucky in a town called Pikeville. After moving to North Carolina when he was two, thereby forever shaping his college basketball preferences, he developed two passions: politics and LGBT fiction.

Politics came first and after a stint as Co-President of the UNC Young Democrats, David worked on various campaigns throughout his 20s. In 2015, he began writing on international election for Daily Kos Elections, including the elections that saw the first Tory majority in the United Kingdom in over twenty years and the first Liberal majority in Canada in over a decade. In 2016, David helped launched Daily Kos' International Elections Digest.

In 2022, David and the Daily Kos Elections team launched The Downballot podcast, a weekly podcast dedicated to elections below the presidency, from Senate to city council.

In 2024, Daily Kos Election spun off and became The Downballot. David continues to co-host the podcast with Downballot publisher David Nir.

Offline, David lives in Northern Virginia and works for the labor movement as a writer and researcher. He also plays soccer when he gets the chance.