David Sheffield, the elected County Attorney for Hardin County, Texas, lives in Silsbee with his wife, Dr. Joyce Reed, and daughter, Erin. Sheffield was first elected in 1993 and is serving his fourth term in office. In the past, he's served as first assistant district attorney for the county, as well as chief legal counsel of the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission.

Currently he's chairman of the four-county Big Thicket District of the Boy Scouts of America, and also serves as an officer and director of Goodwill Industries of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. At 16, Sheffield became an advanced-class amateur radio operator (KB5UY) and still enjoys the hobby today.

Sheffield, 49, earned his undergraduate degree at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Determined to be self-supporting, he transported his iron lung to the University of Mississippi and slept in it every night while studying for his law degree.

Sheffield was profiled on the 1991 and 1992 national broadcasts of the MDA Telethon, and has served as an MDA national vice president. In 2004, he was the recipient of the MDA Personal Achievment Award for Texas and was a finalist for the national award.

Sheffield has a neuromuscular disorder similar to spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which involves weakness and wasting of the voluntary and respiratory muscles.