David Kihara is a senior editor at POLITICO. He started his journalism career in Seattle, where he wrote for the alternative weekly the Stranger. He spent several years writing for the Village Voice in New York City and other publications before moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he worked for the English-language daily newspaper the Cambodia Daily. After Southeast Asia, he moved to Las Vegas and worked as a crime reporter, first for the Las Vegas Sun and then for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He received several awards while working there, including the Nevada Press Association public service award for his reporting on child welfare issues.

He moved to Washington with his family and worked very briefly for TBD.com before it folded. He served for several years as the digital managing editor of ABC7/WJLA before working as a homepage editor at The Washington Post.