A member of the United National Movement, he was one of the most controversial figures of the ruling party during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, characterized for making several statements linking the opposition to Russian hybrid warfare, often being involved in public brawls, and aligning himself with the powerful Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.
In 2013, he became an opposition leader following the Georgian Dream electoral victory and led the party's operations in Kvemo Kartli, including Grigol Vashadze's 2018 presidential campaign.
He has been charged three times and arrested twice since 2015, including during the Velistsikhe Incident of 2018 that saw his fight against police officers seeking to block his attempt to disturb the presidential inauguration of Salome Zourabichvili.
As a young activist, he was appointed as Executive Secretary of the National Movement, a new political party split from the Union of Citizens of Georgia under the leadership of Mikheil Saakashvili.
[4] At the time, he was considered by political observers to be closely affiliated with the powerful Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, as well as Vice-Speaker Mikheil Machavariani.
As such, he was regularly criticized by opposition leaders for his perceived failure in curtailing alleged corruption in the Ministry of Defense,[8] while he was himself a strong proponent of increasing military expenditures.
Most notably, he was involved in a clash of words with Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili,[11] calling her "negligent" for failing to submit an international treaty for ratification to Parliament within proper deadlines,[12] and she would be dismissed within a month.
In December 2005, he called Finance Minister Alexandre Alexishvili "negligent" for failing to increase the salaries of Border Police guards despite a parliamentary resolution.
[13] He seems to have been in conflict with another influential member of UNM, Giga Bokeria, as seen during the controversial and heavily politicized May 2007 election of the Georgian Football Federation president in which both men backed opposing candidates.
[23] In March 2006, he was detained for three days by special forces in Belarus after trying to enter the country to observe the 2006 Belarusian presidential election, before being departed back to Georgia.
[28] The region, in southern Georgia, has a large ethnically Azerbaijani population and as Governor, he was involved in the implementation of Georgian language courses as prioritized by the central government.
[29] Still an influential figure inside UNM, he was allegedly involved in a campaign to pressure advertisers to end their contracts with opposition-leaning Maestro TV.
[30] Zaur Gurgenidze, a former judge and a UNM member, later claimed that Kirkitadze was personally involved in voter manipulation ahead of the 2012 parliamentary election.
[31] In September 2009, media reports claimed that Governor Kirkitadze had been involved in a brawl with a referee during a soccer match, although witness testimony did not confirm the allegations.
At the time having moved temporarily to the United States, he refused to attend his trial and was charged in absentia, arguing that the case was politically motivated.
[39] He remained involved in local activist and in December 2016, he led student demonstrations protesting an increase in public transportation fares between Tbilisi and Rustavi.
[52] Davit Kirkitadze was nominated by the Strength Is in Unity coalition (SU; an electoral bloc led by UNM) to run in the 12th Majoritarian District, making up Rustavi and the northern parts of the Gardabani Municipality, during the 2020 parliamentary election.
He ran against 18 candidates, including incumbent MP Irma Nadirashvili (European Georgia), Vakhtang Megrelishvili (Girchi), and GD's Nino Latsabidze.