Biography
Hoke was born in Lakewood, Ohio and attended school at the private Western Reserve Academy. He graduated from Amherst College in 1973 and earned a law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1980. During the 1970s he practiced Sikhism. He also founded a cell phone company.
In 1992, Hoke won the Republican nomination for Ohio's 10th congressional district, located in Cleveland's west side. Hoke upset heavily favored Democrat Mary Rose Oakar, who had represented the district (formerly the 20th District) for 16 years, in the general election. Oakar was hampered by accusations of check writing at the House of Representatives Bank. Hoke was the first Republican to represent a significant portion of traditionally heavily Democratic Cleveland in over 30 years.
Hoke won re-election in 1994 against Frank Gaul, a Cuyahoga County Treasurer who had recently overseen losses in a county bond fund based on faulty advice from private bond counsel.
In 1996, Hoke was defeated by former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich 49%-46%. Hoke was harmed by several gaffes he had made, the Democratic nature of the district, strong labor support for Kucinich, and a mounting public perception that he would lose, furthered when his fellow Cleveland-area Republican Congressman Steve LaTourette argued that voters should vote for him because Hoke was likely to lose and the Cleveland area needed at least one Republican congressman.
Hoke was appointed to the Ohio Casino Control Commission by Governor John R. Kasich on February 23, 2011. His term of office will end on February 22, 2013.
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