David A. Reid

David Alan Reid (born January 14, 1962) is an American politician and retired US Navy Reserve commander. Reid was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017. He is a Democrat representing the 28th District, which includes much of eastern Loudoun County in Northern Virginia.

Early life and education

Reid grew up in Rockbridge County, Virginia, before moving to the United Methodist Children's Home in Richmond, Virginia in 1972. After six years, Reid and his youngest brother were adopted and moved to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with a foster family.

Reid earned a BA in political science from Northeastern Oklahoma State University. He also holds a master's diploma in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College located at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C.

Career

Reid served 23 years in the US Navy Reserve, as a naval intelligence officer, where he retired as a commander (O-5) in 2011. While in the navy, Reid made two deployments to South Korea and one deployment to Iceland. Reid was unchallenged in the 2019 election. He was defeated in the primary, garnering just 1,419 votes, 3.2% of the total votes cast, placing 6th out of 12 candidates. Reid lost his own House of Delegates district in the primary.

After pledging in 2018 not to accept campaign contributions from Virginia's state-regulated utility monopolies, Reid broke that commitment in 2025 by accepting contributions from Dominion Energy. He has since received at least $125,000 from the company. In this same finance reports, Reid reported donations from other industry groups such as Amazon, the trade union representing car dealerships and the Virginia Bankers Association.

Reid championed legislation to convert the privately owned Dulles Greenway into a public-private partnership, arguing it would provide immediate toll relief. Opponents, including then-State Senator Suhas Subramanyam and former Delegate David Ramadan, warned the proposal would amount to a bailout for the Greenway's owners by giving the financially struggling company a lifeline. They argued the legislation would reduce tolls in the short term while setting the stage for higher tolls in the future, allowing the owners to secure a better deal from taxpayers rather than face the consequences of their business decisions. Subramanyam instead advocated pursuing public ownership of the Greenway to deliver long-term toll relief for commuters.

In 2025, Reid penned a pro-data center opinion piece in the Richmond Times Dispatch defending continued data center development and arguing that local governments should continue approving projects while using the resulting tax revenue to address their impacts.

Reid authored a memoir in April 2024 titled "Virginia Grit: From Poverty to Policymaker, Creating Opportunity for Everyone."