David D. Roberts

David D. Roberts is an American politician, bureaucrat, economic development official, author, entrepreneur and historian from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Roberts founded Sooner Strategies in January of 2020 and served as the chief executive until the Fall of 2022. Submitting his resignation in September 2022, he officially accepted a formal role with the Oklahoma Democratic Party serving as the Director of Development and External Relations. Roberts would serve a full year in his role at the Oklahoma Democratic Party before accepting a position as the Political Director for the Oklahoma AFL-CIO, where he currently serves lobbying for legislation that advances the rights of workers. Roberts successfully authored Political Campaign Playbook, pulling from his life's work in politics and government to provide readers with the industry’s, most valued and guarded information in terms of operating, successful political campaigns, and getting elected to public office. His extremely vibrant background in politics and government, marks its beginning when he was only 9 years old, passing out campaign literature for Oklahoma state senator Gene Stipe, Oklahoma's longest serving elected official. Roberts was very active in student organizations throughout high school and college. In 2003 he was elected as the National President of Business Professionals of America (BPA) following his state election to Oklahoma's precursor organization, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) .  Roberts began to gain notoriety as a political operative serving on high profile political campaigns including U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Congressman Mark Critz, and then-United States Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for President of the United States, the committee Obama for America. Roberts has become less active in politics following his grandmother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia, prompting his return to Oklahoma where he served as her caregiver and attempted to manage one more political campaign, state Senator Constance Johnson, in her bid for the United States Senate, the seat currently occupied by U.S. Senator James Lankford.

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Born in Poteau, Oklahoma, in 1985, Roberts was raised in rural McCurtain, Haskell County, Oklahoma. He graduated from McCurtain High School in McCurtain, Oklahoma winning the full academic scholarship, the Charles L. Ford Scholarship to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. At NSU, Roberts excelled both inside the classroom and in the university's extracurricular organizations. As a student of Political Science, Roberts served on a wide-range of boards and organizations including serving on the Northeastern Student Activities Board, the Model United Nations, the Interfraternity Council (IFC), President of the NSU College Democrats, and President of his fraternity, the historic Phi Lambda Chi Fraternity's Beta Chapter. Roberts has received numerous awards and citations that include servings as Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry's student-host at his inaugural ball, an Oklahoma State House of Representative Citation for Leadership, and the George W. Bush Volunteer Service Award. Roberts is a National Merit Scholar, an Oklahoma Interscholastic Press Association award recipient for Feature Journalism and Opinion Commentary. He has been involved in activism and government in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, Montana, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. He has personally written and acquired more than $1.5 million in state and federal funding for local government organizations and rural communities.

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As a current official of the Democratic Party, Roberts divides his time between Oklahoma City, Fort Smith, Arkansas and Washington, DC. Identifying himself as a gay man as early as 2004, Roberts proudly attached this label to himself long before the national trend leaned towards acceptance. Roberts advocated for marriage equality and other gay rights issues across the nation including in rural red-state Oklahoma. He continues to be a passionate advocate for equality and fight for issues relating to gender and LGBTQ+.

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Sooner State Strategies began as only an Oklahoma limited liability company operating at lowest-level operations cost attempting to also provide free, or significantly reduced, client rates for those in poverty, on limited incomes, or with limited resources. It was only after Sooner State Strategies had successfully researched, written, and administered numerous grants and started expanding that the non-profit motivation initialized.  The company, consisting of our founder and one or two additional part-time personal assistants, responsibly performed all or parts of both Grant and Public Administrative services projects to improve drinking water quality, to replace local government water lines, to treat town's drinking water, wastewater treatment, community beautification projects, acquisition of historic property, transportation, and the list continued, as well as continuing to expand.