David Brooks (born August 11, 1961) is a columnist for The New York Times who has become one of the prominent voices of conservative politics in the United States.

David Brooks was an Philadelphia, Pennsylvania inventor, remembered for an innovative insulator for telegraph lines in 1864 and 1867. He patented it while working for the Central Pacific Railroad. His patents allowed the railroad to more easily communicate with construction crews building the first transcontinental railroad in America.

David Brooks (born 1955) was the first of two known teenage accomplices of serial murderer Dean Corll.