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Martin R. Hoke (b. May 18, 1952) is an American Republican politician and former member of the United States House of Representatives.
Hoke graduated from Amherst College in 1973 and took a law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1980. He also founded a cell phone company.
Despite redistricting to make the 10th District in Cleveland's West Side and suburbs more Republican, Hoke only narrowly upset scandal-ridden Democrat Mary Rose Oakar in the 1992 general election.
Hoke won re-election two years later against Francis E. Gaul, a Cuyahoga County County Treasurer who had recently overseen the collapse of a county bond fund and nearly driven the county into bankruptcy as a result. Even under indictment during the election,(which he subsequently beat upon appeal) Gaul managed to get almost 40 percent of the vote against Hoke.
In 1996, Hoke was defeated by Dennis Kucinich, despite Hoke's attempt to tar his opponent as a closet Communist.
Hoke was well-known for his habit of making politically incorrect statements about women. Shortly after taking office in 1993, he was quoted in an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd as saying "I could date (Representatives) Maria Cantwell or Blanche Lambert - they're hot." When preparing to provide a response for a Cleveland television station after Bill Clinton's 1994 State of the Union address, Hoke was caught making a comment about a station producer's breasts over an open microphone. Hoke reportedly expressed relief to a newspaper reporter when an escaped murderer went on a killing spree, knocking Hoke's gaffe off the front pages.
Hoke was also known for making a speech in 1992 demanding immediate reform at the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, an agency that had been abolished in 1989.
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