Hofer was born in Vorau, Austria, the son of a local Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) councillor and electric power station director.

[6] The Freedom Party had opposed the government's original "welcoming culture" and during the summer of 2015 began to lead opinion polls.

[9] The second round election was held on 22 May 2016, with 49.7% of votes cast for Hofer while Van der Bellen, his opponent, received 50.3%,[10] – a margin of victory of only 30,863.

[11] Evidence was subsequently presented to the Constitutional Court of Austria that approximately 78,000 absentee ballots were improperly counted too early, which theoretically could have influenced or altered the outcome.

Consequently, on 1 July, the Court annulled the second round results and thereby precluded Van der Bellen being sworn into office, and ordered the election be re-run.

[14] Despite predictions that election fatigue and cold temperatures would lead to a reduction in participation, voter turnout actually increased from 72.7% in May to 73.8%;[11] expectations for a similarly close result also proved wrong, with the margin of victory for Van der Bellen increasing by approximately a factor of ten[14] as he was supported by around 53.3% of voters.

Hofer conceded soon after the first exit polls were reported, posting on Facebook: "I congratulate Alexander Van der Bellen for his success and ask all Austrians to pull together and work together" and added that he "would have liked to look after Austria" and confirmed his intention to run again in 2022.

[11] His campaign manager, Herbert Kickl, who is also the secretary of the Freedom party, attributed the defeat to "the establishment – which pitched in once again to block, to stonewall and to prevent renewal.

[20][21] Writer Michael Toner of the centrist online news publication International Business Times referred to Hofer as a neo-fascist.

[22] However, other media outlets and political commentators have referred to Hofer as the face of the more moderate wing of the FPÖ and less hard-line compared to former party leader Heinz-Christian Strache.

[23][24][25] Hofer himself has stated that he is not a nationalist but a patriot, and that the FPÖ is not an extreme-right movement but "a centre-right party with a high degree of social responsibility.”[26][27] He has also cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of his political influences.

[25][28] In February 2015, Hofer proposed that South Tyrol, an autonomous German-speaking province administered by Italy and formerly part of Austria-Hungary, should be absorbed into Austria.