David Sirota

David Sirota
Sirota in 2011
Born (1975-11-02) November 2, 1975 (age 49)
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationNorthwestern University (BA)
OrganizationThe Lever
Political partyIndependent
SpouseEmily Sirota

David J. Sirota (born November 2, 1975) is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outlet focused on exposing the negative influence of corporate corruption on American society.[1][2][3] Sirota was a speechwriter and senior adviser for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.[1] In 2022, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for conceiving the story for Netflix's Don't Look Up alongside co-writer and director Adam McKay.[2]

Sirota's professional career has spanned politics, media, and journalism. In politics, he has held roles such as campaign manager, fundraiser, spokesperson, strategist, and consultant for a variety of left-leaning Democratic candidates and office holders. He twice worked for Bernie Sanders, both when Sanders was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives and as part of Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.[1][4] He was also a staff member of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research and advocacy group.[4]

Sirota has also been a columnist for Guardian US, editor-at-large for American left publication Jacobin and senior investigations editor for The International Business Times.[1] He has also worked as television writer and radio host. He has written three books: Hostile Takeover (2006), an exploration of corruption in the U.S. political system, The Uprising (2008), about ordinary citizens frustrations with the U.S. government, and Back to Our Future (2011), which explores how the politics and culture of the 1980s influenced the thinking of later generations.[5]

In his political career, Sirota has been described by his critics as "an attack dog",[6] and by his allies as "intense, driven, even obsessive", and someone with an "eye for critique and the instinct for the jugular [of his political opponents]."[4] In 2003, journalist Richard Wolffe described Sirota as "a man on a mission."[4] In 2023, reflecting on Sirota's varied career, former CNN host Brian Stelter wrote, "Sirota's life has been one long campaign against plutocrats and the corrupt politicians who enable them."[2]

  1. ^ a b c d Tobitt, Charlotte (2024-04-22). "The Lever gets reader backing to expose corporate corruption and grows editorial team". Press Gazette. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  2. ^ a b c Stelter, Brian (2023-03-18). "Politics by Other Means". Air Mail. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  3. ^ David Sirota (bio page), The Lever, accessed 2024-04-26
  4. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference twsSEPcv96 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference wired1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Dovere, Edward-Isaac (2019-03-19). "Bernie Sanders Just Hired His Twitter Attack Dog". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2024-04-20. Retrieved 2019-11-27.