David Dewhirst

David Dewhirst is Senior Advisor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Previously, David served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of Idaho, and before that he was Solicitor General of Montana.

David received his B.A. from Western Kentucky University. After a year teaching overseas, David earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, where he served as symposium editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and a president of the Federalist Society.

After law school, he helped create and lead the public interest litigation group at the Freedom Foundation, where he litigated constitutional, labor, and campaign finance cases before federal and state courts and administrative agencies.

David joined the United States Department of Commerce in 2018 as a Senior Counsel and then Principal Deputy General Counsel. In these roles, he advised the Secretary and other officials on legal and policy matters implicating every corner of Commerce’s broad mandate. He also coordinated closely with the White House and Interagency to advance Administration-wide priorities.  David additionally managed the Department’s expansive litigation portfolio, defended Department officials in Congressional investigations, and served as Commerce’s Regulatory Reform Officer and Chief Environmental Review Permitting Officer.

Previously, David had the distinct honor of clerking for Judge Lawrence VanDyke on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.