David M. Axelrod is an American political consultant and analyst. He is credited with being the brains behind former US President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He is a graduate of political science at the University of Chicago.

Immediately after graduation, David began working for the Chicago Tribune. In 1984, his campaign management team won Congressman Paul Simon a seat in the U.S. Senate. In 1985 he co-created the consulting firm Axelrod & Associates (later known as AKP&D Message and Media). In 2008, Obama named Axelrod as a senior advisor to his administration. He left the post in 2011.

He met Obama in 1992 and assembled the campaign management team that succeeded in getting Obama elected as a U.S. senator for Illinois in 2005.