Losing Arizona: Is Rep. Jake Hoffman an Insurrectionist?

This is part of a series from The Copper Courier highlighting the Arizona legislators involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection or the events leading up to it. Read the rest here.

Rep. Jake Hoffman is the CEO and president of the marketing company Rally Forge. He served on the Queen Creek City Council before being elected to represent District 16, which covers parts of Gilbert, Queen Creek, and San Tan Valley, in 2020. 

Contributions to the Insurrection

Hoffman signed on to a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to accept 11 “alternate” electoral votes for Trump or to have all of the state’s electoral votes “nullified completely until a full forensic audit can be conducted.”

In the weeks since, Hoffman signed onto a number of bills that could impact voting in Arizona, including one requiring a photo ID to join the permanent absentee voting list. He’s also the sponsor of a bill that seeks to make automatic voter registration illegal, and another that would make it a felony to affirmatively send an absentee ballot to anyone not on the permanent early voter list.

Voter advocacy groups warned that the bill would keep county recorders from sending ballots to voters in jail or disabled voters that require assistance.

How You May Have Heard of Them

Hoffman drew national attention just months before he was elected after his marketing company was implicated in running a disinformation campaign in support of then-President Donald Trump. Local teens were allegedly paid to spam social media with messages aimed at undermining confidence in the upcoming election and questioning the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a written response to The Washington Post, which broke the story, Hoffman compared the spam messages to a phone-bank script.

Hoffman still managed to win the election, but was suspended from Twitter, and his firm was banned from Facebook. He was later appointed to head the Arizona House of Representative’s elections committee.

During a 2021 hearing for a bill that would create a National Day of Racial Healing, Hoffman—who is a white man—described America as “the most accepting nation in the history of mankind” immediately after referencing the Civil War. 

“You know what never ceases to amaze me is the politicization of race,” Hoffman said before voting against the bill. “Americans and this country come together better than any nation in the history of the world.”

He is up for re-election in 2022.

Hoffman isn’t alone. See the others who played a role in the insurrection.