[4] After graduating from William Penn Charter School in 1968, he attended Boston University and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1972.

[5] He first became involved in politics during the 1972 presidential election, when his opposition to the Vietnam War led him to support Senator George McGovern.

[5] In 1984, he gave up his seat to run for the United States House of Representatives in the 13th congressional district, but was defeated by longtime Republican incumbent Lawrence Coughlin.

In a surprise to the political establishment, Hoeffel supported Republican Mario Mele for Commission chairman over Jon Fox.

[8] In 1996, Hoeffel made a third run at Congress, taking on his former colleague on the Montgomery County Commission, Jon Fox, now a first-term Congressman.

Hobbled by a tough Republican primary and the fallout from the impeachment process against President Bill Clinton, Fox could not hang on a second time.

In 2000 he won an expensive race against Republican State Senator Stewart Greenleaf, who represented most of the eastern portion of the congressional district.

Congressman in one week, following Charles Rangel and Bobby Rush, to be arrested for trespassing while protesting alleged human rights violations in front of the Sudanese Embassy.

Hoeffel announced that he would run for lieutenant governor in March 2006 against incumbent Catherine Baker Knoll, but dropped out of the race a day later.

[14] In February 2007, Hoeffel announced that he would resign his post in order to run for the Montgomery County Commission with incumbent Ruth Damsker.

Hoeffel finished second, behind Castor, winning a seat on the Commission, but his running mate fell short, keeping control in Republican hands.

A subsequent grand jury report [clarification needed] found questionable behavior on Hoeffel's part for his participation in discussing county business at private breakfast meetings held with Matthews and senior aides–an alleged violation of state Sunshine laws.

[29] He is endorsed by former NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman,[30] and by the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women[31] He favors amending Pennsylvania's Hate Crimes Law to include crimes targeting LGBT people and supports full marriage rights.

In this book, Hoeffel argues that "progressives must fight for the political center of our civic arena with policies that are both socially liberal and fiscally responsible if we want to win the battle for public support against Donald Trump."

The book is a mix of policy prescriptions which reject partisan extremes and rigid ideologies, with numerous anecdotes from 25 years serving in elected office at the county, state and federal levels.