Hoke graduated from Amherst College in 1973 and earned a law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1980. 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.

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. The remark was made in front of his fellow Congressman, Eric Fingerhut, who reportedly blushed from the remark. Hoke expressed relief to a newspaper reporter when an escaped murderer went on a killing spree, knocking Hoke's gaffe off the front pages.

Hoke won re-election two years later 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 in what is still regarded as an upset.