Shane Hoffman

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Shane Hoffman

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Dayton, 1996

Graduate

Indiana University, Indianapolis, 2000

Personal

Birthplace

Decatur, Ind.

Religion

Roman Catholic

Profession

Technology services manager

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Shane Hoffman (independent) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Ohio. He lost as a write-in in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Biography

Shane Hoffman was born in Decatur, Indiana. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton in 1996 and a master's degree from Indiana University, Indianapolis, in 2000. His professional experience includes working in a variety of roles in libraries, including as a technology consultant for libraries. He also worked as a technology consultant for small businesses. As of 2020, Hoffman was a technology services manager for the Plain City Public Library.

Elections

2022

See also: United States Senate election in Ohio, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Ohio

The following candidates ran in the general election for U.S. Senate Ohio on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Vance (R)	53.0	2,192,114
		Tim Ryan (D)	46.9	1,939,489
		John Cheng (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	702
		Shane Hoffman (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	403
		LaShondra Tinsley (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	362
	Submit photo	Stephen Faris (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	194
	Submit photo	Matthew Esh (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	78

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,133,342
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Shawn Mousourakis (Independent)
• Chad Taylor (Independent)
• Eric Meiring (Independent)
• Samuel Ronan (Independent)
• Dominic LaCavera (Independent)
• Shannon Taylor (Independent)
• Kelli Prather (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Ohio

Tim Ryan defeated Morgan Harper and Traci Johnson in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Ohio on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim Ryan	69.6	359,941
		Morgan Harper	17.8	92,347
		Traci Johnson	12.6	65,209

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 517,497
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tamie Wilson (D)
• LaShondra Tinsley (D)
• Rick Taylor (D)
• Demar Sheffey (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Ohio

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Ohio on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Vance	32.2	344,736
		Josh Mandel	23.9	255,854
		Matt Dolan	23.3	249,239
		Mike Gibbons	11.7	124,653
		Jane Timken	5.9	62,779
	Submit photo	Mark Pukita	2.1	22,692
		Neil Patel	0.9	9,873

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,069,826
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Zachary Musick (R)
• Mackenzie Thompson (R)
• Michael Leipold (R)
• Bernie Moreno (R)
• John Berman (R)
• John Reed (R)
• Bill Graham (R)

2020

See also: Ohio's 15th Congressional District election, 2020

Ohio's 15th Congressional District election, 2020 (April 28 Republican primary)

Ohio's 15th Congressional District election, 2020 (April 28 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Ohio District 15

Incumbent Steve Stivers defeated Joel Newby and Shane Hoffman in the general election for U.S. House Ohio District 15 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Stivers (R)	63.4	243,103
		Joel Newby (D)	36.6	140,183
		Shane Hoffman (American Solidarity Party) (Write-in)	0.0	75

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 383,361
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15

Joel Newby defeated Daniel Kilgore in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15 on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joel Newby	65.6	28,503
		Daniel Kilgore	34.4	14,916

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 43,419
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15

Incumbent Steve Stivers defeated Shelby Hunt in the Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15 on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Stivers	88.1	41,749
		Shelby Hunt	11.9	5,627

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 47,376
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Shane Hoffman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Shane Hoffman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hoffman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I fill many roles in this world. Father. Husband. Son. By trade, I am a technology librarian of over twenty years professional experience and a graduate of the University of Dayton and of Indiana University. I am active in my parish and have passion for getting groups involved in food insecurity initiatives. I have spoken around the state, worked with many state-wide organizations, co-authored a chapter for a book on libraries and community health outcomes and produce the occasional podcast along these lines. Who am I politically? I am a whole-life politician. That means I'll make sure you live to be born. I'll work my hardest to reshape society so that you and your family have the required supports to help you reach your best outcome. I'll make sure that being of advanced age, differently able, on the wrong side of the law, or a member of some physical, cultural, sexual, or other minority don't prevent you from reaching your potential or living your life with dignity. Religious freedom and civil rights are neither winner-take-all nor zero-sum games.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Our economy, the key to every aspect of our daily lives, is broken. The economic polices of both parties over the last fifty years have failed. Both parties have subscribed to economic theories that ignore the human component. Economics are meant to serve the people, not wedge the people in at its feet as cogs to be used and discarded as necessary. We have the means at our disposal to re-design the economy by utilizing available structures to empower the employee while leaving reasonable profits to the risk takers. We don't have to resort to socialism to fix the economy, but we need someone who will fight for and encourage these changes.
• No one should ever, ever have to work multiple jobs and still not afford a safe, warm place to live, decent food and health care. While we are recreating the economy to account for the humanity it currently ignores, we must maintain and expand the safety net. It is currently designed almost like a trap instead of a springboard back into full and independent participation.
• Healthcare is a national emergency, and should be treated as such. The President made some good starts, with pricing transparency, but there is much more that should be done. Medical patents should be ended and replaces by longer term licensing agreements. American citizens already pay well over half the costs of drug research through taxes and charitable giving, why should they be held hostage to monopolistic pricing and be denied the drugs they've funded? Vertical integration of hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies must stop as well. We can significantly reduce prices this way.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Economic inequality and human suffering are the core of many of our problems. Fixing these will not erase our troubles, but we can expect better outcomes by making sure everyone has a real chance to succeed. My biggest area of policy is being tested during Covid and should be permanently in place once the pandemic subsides. I am talking about free breakfast and lunch for every pre-k through 12 student in America every day of every school year and continued support for the Summer Food Service Program when school is not in session. It is proven that "hungry kids can't learn". It's hard to concentrate when your worried out where your next meal is coming from. Hungry kids do not perform as well as their well fed peers. They have lower education outcomes, reducing their potential to participate in society. They have higher likelihoods of drug and alcohol abuse, incarceration, obesity from eating low quality food. They are more likely to suffer chronic illnesses like diabetes, remain in poverty and have children who will repeat the cycle. By giving them at least this one leg-up, we can eventually reduce spending on health care, prisons, and the safety net. Instead of punishing those in need, invest in them. It's worth it!

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My involvement in food insecurity has lead me down some interesting paths that I wouldn't have anticipated just five years ago. Of course, if you had asked where I thought I'd be in five years back then, nothing about 2020 would have come up.

Robert F Kennedy and his work fighting poverty has been inspiring. I haven't read a lot about it as of yet, but what I have read is amazing. A lot of the ground we're treading today is only there because of the work of Kennedy, a man whose privileged upbringing could easily have made him an opponent of or at the least oblivious to the these initiatives. Instead, he took great personal risks and invested significant amounts of energy and time making things happen.

Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker Movement were tireless in their efforts to fight for human dignity. They eschewed many comforts and took many risks to fight for labor and relief from poverty. They created, largely from scratch, the roots of the modern day soup kitchen, hostel and many other emergency relief systems we use today. It was certainly at a time when this was not looked upon kindly in many circles.

I would certainly be remiss if I did not mention my parents and many aunts, uncles and grandparents who were hard working farmers, entrepreneurs, laborers. Their work ethic and "Never give up. Never Surrender" attitude has stuck with me over the years as I have tried my hand at my own businesses, entered in leadership roles in my profession and started a team dedicated to food insecurity relief. Entering into politics takes a certain amount of fortitude as well. Without their quiet examples, there is no possible way I am here today. Thank you.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The librarian in me has a host of books, and an order to read them, that will really help you understand my philosophies.

1. An Economics of Justice & Charity by Thomas Storck.
2. Goliath: The 100 Year War Between Democracy and Monopoly Power by Matt Stoller
3. Toward a Truly Free Market by John Medaille

Other works:
Lives of Moral Leadership by Rober Coles
An upcoming read that I am looking forward to: Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation by Charles C. Camosy

If you need some music:
Are you Ready? and other songs off Evolution from Distrubed

For Pete's Sake by The Monkees

What legacy would you like to leave?

If I am remembered for anything, I would like to be remembered as someone who helped the door to different ways of viewing the individuals role in the economy. I will have died a content man if my tombstone can honestly read: Here lies Shane Hoffman, who helped build consensus that made the care of the people the core of the economy. Along with others, he helped rid the government of the influence of money and corporations. He made abortion an unthinkable alternative.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first event of any significance I remember is somehow, at the age of five, engaging in arguments with my friends about the Carter/Reagan election. I don't remember the substance of the any of the "arguments" we had, but remember repeating bit of news about politics without really knowing what the meant. Forty years later, not a lot has changed, and that is sad and in need of reconciling.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first paid job was at about 12 years of age. I mowed the lawn for an elderly lady in my neighborhood. My first official job, however, was at a dishwasher and general kitchen assistant at wonderful place that no longer exists, Bearcreek Farms outside Bryant, Indiana. I worked there from age sixteen until I went to college at the University of Dayton and got my first library job as a student. I've been in various libraries ever since, over 27 years. I have enjoyed all of these jobs and miss many people and experiences. They all gave me lessons that I bring with me today.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Redistricting is not enough. Though I am glad to see that Ohio will be enacting a new process after the census, redistricting will only fix a small part of the issue. I think that the redistricting plans should be taken up federally as well. One issue that is missing from the conversation is that our representation in the House was initially meant to involve districts of not more than 30-70 thousand people. Districts currently represent approximately 700 thousand people. A return to the original numbers would make the House look like a picture of the Imperial Senate from the Star Wars prequels, and nobody wants that. At 50 thousand per district, the house would expand to roughly 6,600 members. That number may be unwieldy, but we need more representatives. More representatives should lead to greater diversity.

Another solution for redistricting would be larger, multiple winner districts and/or Ranked Choice Voting. Imagine what we could do for representation with a few more representatives and these new options.

For the sake of argument, let's say the formula changes and Ohio now has 27 representatives. Instead of creating 27 districts, we create nine districts according to the new law. Each district sends the top three vote getters by either our current method of top 3 or taking the three winners by Ranked Choice. Ranked Choice Voting, which I hope to see more Americans become familiar with in the near future, makes Third parties more viable and should be looked at in earnest.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." The new climate of incivility, hate and internal division is probably the single greatest threat to our nation since The Civil War. I have always believed that no foreign enemy could take down our great nation. Only internal divisions could take us down, and we are dangerously close to that moment. Faith in our government is at an all time low, and it shows. Where do we begin:

1. Gerrymandering reform will help curtail the ever increasing "extreme" candidates. The "safer" a district is for one party or another, the more extreme the ideology from that party will become.
2. We relieve restrictions that unfairly keep third parties out of the political process.

3. We must get the money out of politics. PACs, Corporate lobbies, and the extreme expense of getting elected have eroded and almost destroyed the public's ability to trust even the people they elect. It must be reformed.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Term limits are a mixed bag. While we should have fresh faces in, you throw out the talented public servants with the corrupt. A friend of mine in The American Solidarity Party put together what would be the start of good conversation. My version is a little different, but Twelve consecutive years in the House, Twelve consecutive years in the Senate, Eight years total in the White House. This would force turnover without totally depleting the years of experience. Forcing people to run as non-incumbents from time to time will also force the party to take its primaries more seriously.
I am not in favor of term limits for the Supreme Court. Judges at that level should never have to consider life after their tenure.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

To paraphrase All in the Family, "Mister, we could use a man like Wright Patman again". Representative Patman was an incredible man who came up at just before the stock market crashed in 1929 and engineered many of the laws that made America work for the little guy. He stood up to corporate excess and made sure large corporations couldn't crush the American Dream for the Main Street shop owner. Fair Pricing laws, anti-trust and anti-monopoly legislation reigned in the actions that lead to the Great Depression. He worked tirelessly to implement and maintain these actions in the face of corporate and bank lobbies and often intense opposition from his colleagues. He remained in office, engaged in the fight against corporate greed until his death in 1976. Almost immediately after his death, both parties began dismantling his life's work. Their efforts laid the groundwork for mess we have today. If I can be even half the Representative he was, we can make great strides in creating an America where everyone has a chance to succeed.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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U.S. Senate Ohio

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Footnotes

[show]

Ohio's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Jon Husted (R)

Bernie Moreno (R)

Representatives

District 1

Greg Landsman (D)

District 2

David Taylor (R)

District 3

Joyce Beatty (D)

District 4

Jim Jordan (R)

District 5

Bob Latta (R)

District 6

Michael Rulli (R)

District 7

Max Miller (R)

District 8

Warren Davidson (R)

District 9

Marcy Kaptur (D)

District 10

Michael Turner (R)

District 11

Shontel Brown (D)

District 12

Troy Balderson (R)

District 13

Emilia Sykes (D)

District 14

David Joyce (R)

District 15

Mike Carey (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (5)