Background
Jay was born and raised in Highland, Illinois.
Jay was born and raised in Highland, Illinois.
After high school, Jay received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Illinois State University, where he was a four-year starter on the Illinois State Redbirds baseball team He later graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law and began his career in public service as a prosecutor in Saint Clair County.
He previously served from 1991 to 2011, with a nine-month interruption in 1997. Hoffman was elected to his first term as an Illinois State Representative in November 1990. After just four years in the Illinois General Assembly, Jay was promoted to floor leader for the House Democrats and later became Chairman of the House Transportation and Motor Vehicles Committee, where he served for five terms.
Jay also served on the committees of Judicial I (Civil Law), Judicial II (Criminal Law), Labor, Consumer Affairs, Railroad Safety, appropriations committees, and several other committees and task forces.
He helped pass the state’s first capital construction plan in more than a decade, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars for new buildings at Illinois State University, University of Illinois, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Jay has authored a book that provides a blueprint for utilizing the state’s natural resources to create jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
“Hope from the Heartland: Jobs, Clean Air, Energy Security” outlines his plan on how the Midwest can lead the nation in research and the production of alternative energy by utilizing the Midwestern states’ natural resources to create jobs in the declining manufacturing sector. Jay Hoffman has been closely linked to disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich throughout his legislative career.
The Madison County Record referred to Republican
In early 2009 Jay voted in favor of the impeachment of the former Governor.
Member of Knights of Columbus, Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Married Laurie Hoffman. Children: Emily, Katelyn.