After working for Studds for a year, Hoeffel challenged four-term
Republican incumbent
Daniel Beren for a seat in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the Abington-based
153rd district, in 1974. He was defeated by 1,505 votes. The first bill he passed as a state legislator was a campaign reform proposal in 1978 improving financial disclosure.
Career in Congress In 1996, Hoeffel made a third run at Congress, taking on his former colleague on the Montgomery County Commission,
Jon Fox, now a first-term Congressman. That year, Fox hung onto his seat by an 84-vote margin. However, in 1998, in his fourth attempt, Hoeffel broke through. Hobbled by a tough Republican primary and the fallout from
the impeachment process against President
Bill Clinton, Fox could not hang on a second time. Hoeffel won by more than 5,000 votes. Hoeffel became only the second Democrat to represent the Montgomery County-based district in 86 years. He won re-election twice, though not without difficulty. In 2000 he won an expensive race against Republican
State Senator Stewart Greenleaf, who represented most of the eastern portion of the congressional district. He thus became the first Democrat to serve more than one term in the district in decades. In 2002, he defeated wealthy ophthalmologist
Melissa Brown by less than expected; the 13th had been made somewhat more Democratic with the addition of part of Philadelphia. During the 2002 election, Hoeffel's website was praised as among the best of the 2002 election cycle. In Congress, Hoeffel was a member of two
House committees:
International Relations and
Transportation and Infrastructure. On July 20, 2004, Hoeffel became the third sitting
U.S. Congressman in one week, following
Charles Rangel and
Bobby Rush, to be arrested for
trespassing while protesting alleged
human rights violations in front of the
Sudanese Embassy. U.S. Senator
Arlen Specter, Hoeffel's
Republican opponent in the 2004
U.S. Senate race, criticized the
arrest as a
publicity stunt. Rather than holding onto his seat, Hoeffel decided in 2004 to run for the
U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican
Arlen Specter. In the election held on November 2, 2004, Hoeffel was defeated by more than ten points to Specter, 53%-42%, and only carried four counties. Hoeffel was at a considerable disadvantage because of Specter's popularity in the Philadelphia suburbs.
After Congress Hoeffel endorsed
Bob Casey, Jr. for the United States Senate in
2006; Casey defeated incumbent Republican
Rick Santorum by a wide margin. Hoeffel announced that he would run for
lieutenant governor in
March 2006 against incumbent
Catherine Baker Knoll, but dropped out of the race a day later.
Governor Ed Rendell convinced Hoeffel that the Democratic ticket needed geographic balance; Knoll is from
Allegheny County; Rendell is from Philadelphia. The Democratic Committees of Bucks and Chester Counties had overwhelmingly voted to endorse him over Knoll. In February 2007, Hoeffel announced that he would resign his post in order to run for the Montgomery County Commission with incumbent Ruth Damsker. Hoeffel's and Damsker's opponents were incumbent
Jim Matthews and district attorney
Bruce Castor. Hopes were high that the Democrats could win majority control on the commission due to party gains in the county and a fractured county Republican party. Hoeffel finished second, behind Castor, winning a seat on the commission, but his running mate fell short, keeping control in Republican hands. However, thanks to a deal with Matthews, Hoeffel became Vice Chairman of the commission, in exchange for supporting Matthews' bid to become Chairman over Castor.
2010 gubernatorial campaign On September 20, 2009, Hoeffel announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for
Governor of Pennsylvania. During the campaign, he called for the introduction of a
graduated income tax for the state, supported the implementation of a statewide
single-payer health care program, stressed his
pro-choice position on
abortion and opposition to
school vouchers, and distinguished himself as the only candidate supporting the legalization of
same-sex marriage. He received endorsements from
NOW, the
Stonewall Democrats, the
United Auto Workers, and various local affiliates of
Democracy for America. In the May 18, 2010 primary, he placed fourth out of four candidates, receiving 130,799 votes, or 12.7% of the total votes cast, and winning Montgomery County, though without a majority.
Subsequent political career Within days of losing the 2010 primary for governor, Hoeffel announced he would seek another term as county commissioner in 2011. He followed
Matthews, who also initially announced his intention to seek re-election. A subsequent grand jury report found questionable behavior on Hoeffel's part for his participation in discussing county business at private breakfast meetings held with Matthews and senior aides–an alleged violation of state
Sunshine laws. However, unlike Matthews, who was later alleged to have perjured himself while testifying to the grand jury, Hoeffel was never charged with criminal wrongdoing. On March 10, 2018, Hoeffel announced that he would seek to retake his old congressional seat, now renumbered as the
4th District. A court-ordered remap had cut out the district's share of Philadelphia. Although the new 4th was geographically similar to the area he had represented for his first two terms, he finished a distant third, with only 11 percent of the vote, well behind State Representative and fellow Abington resident
Madeleine Dean. ==Political positions==