Margaret Hoover

☆ Save On Wikipedia ↗
Margaret Hoover
Hoover in 2011
Born
Margaret Claire Hoover

(1977-12-11) December 11, 1977
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationDavidson College (attended)
Bryn Mawr College (BA)
Political party
Republican
Spouse
​
(m. 2009)​
Children2
FamilyAllan Hoover (grandfather)
Herbert Hoover (great-grandfather)
Lou Henry Hoover (great-grandmother)

Margaret Claire Hoover (born December 11, 1977) is an American political commentator, political strategist, journalist, media personality, author, and great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. president.[1] She hosts PBS's reboot of the conservative interview show Firing Line.[2]

Early life

Margaret Hoover was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Colorado, the daughter of Jean (née Williams), a flight attendant, and Andrew Hoover, a mining engineer.[3][4] She is the great-granddaughter of U.S. President Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)[5] through her father, Andrew Hoover, and her grandfather, Allan Hoover.

Hoover received primary education at Graland Country Day School, an independent co-educational day school in Denver.[6] She earned a B.A. in Spanish literature with a minor in political science from Bryn Mawr College in 2001.[7][8] She also attended Davidson College for two years, but did not earn a degree there.[9] Along the way, Hoover studied Spanish-language literature and Mandarin Chinese.[10][11] She also studied abroad in Bolivia, Mexico and China.[12]

After graduating from college, Hoover moved to Taipei where she was hired as a research assistant and editor at a Taiwanese law firm. She arrived on the day of the September 11 attacks. Quickly realizing she wanted to be back in the U.S., she returned home in 2002.[13]

Career

Public service

Hoover worked for the George W. Bush administration as associate director of Intergovernmental Affairs.[14] She worked on Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and was Deputy Finance Director for Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid in 2006–07.[15] She served as deputy press secretary for Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart and as senior advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.[16][17] Hoover is on the board of overseers at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and on the boards of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation and Freedom House.[18][19] She served on the advisory council of The American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud.[20][21]

LGBTQ equality advocacy

Hoover has been an advocate for same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights, arguing that marriage equality is consistent with conservative principles of individual freedom and limited government.[22] She has stated that she personally advocated for the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in New York, where Republican legislators provided key votes for the state's 2011 marriage equality law.[23]

In 2012, Hoover traveled to Minnesota to support Minnesotans United for All Families, the campaign opposing a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Hoover came to the Twin Cities during the final days of the campaign in an effort to help reach Republican voters.[24]

In addition to her public advocacy, Hoover supported marriage-equality efforts through the American Unity Fund, a Republican-led advocacy organization. In 2013, the group contributed funding to the successful campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii.[25]

Hoover has been described as part of efforts to advance LGBTQ equality within the Republican Party and has argued that support for LGBTQ rights is consistent with conservative principles of individual freedom.[26] Some social conservatives criticized Hoover's efforts to broaden Republican support for same-sex marriage. In a 2011 opinion column, commentator Maggie Gallagher associated Hoover with a group of Republicans whom she characterized as seeking to move the party away from traditional positions on social issues.[27]

Political beliefs

Hoover is a Republican with libertarian beliefs on social issues.[28][29] Hoover is an advocate for gay rights, including gay marriage, arguing that individual freedom and marriage are conservative values.[30]

The Advocate profiled Hoover in 2011 as a prominent Republican supporter of marriage equality, describing her as one of the few conservative commentators willing to openly advocate for same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights.[31]

In 2013, Hoover was among a group of Republican political strategists, donors, and policy advocates who signed an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage in Hollingsworth v. Perry.[32] In a contemporaneous interview with The New York Times, Hoover argued that support for marriage equality was consistent with conservative principles of individual freedom, stating that "if we are the party of individual freedom, we should be consistently the party of individual freedom" and that government "shouldn't restrain those freedoms."[33][34] Hoover argued that support for marriage equality was consistent with both conservative principles of individual liberty and a "big tent" Republican Party that could accommodate differing views on social issues.[35]

Hoover has been a critic of Donald Trump. Before the 2020 election, she described the presidential contest as a "binary choice" and stated, "I can't bring myself to vote for Donald Trump," adding that she would "quite likely" cast her vote for Joe Biden.[36] In a 2023 interview, Hoover described Trump as presenting a "unique threat to the country" and criticized what she characterized as his authoritarian tendencies and degradation of political discourse.[37]

Political commentator

In 2011, Hoover published American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party, published by Crown Forum.[38][39]

From 2008 to 2012, Hoover was a Fox News contributor, appearing on Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor.[40] In the branded segment "Culture Warrior", she jousted with O'Reilly on a range of topics from entertainment news to popular culture to Hollywood and politics.[41] In 2012, she became a political contributor at CNN.[42]

In 2014, Hoover hosted the Toyota Solutions Studio at Tina Brown's Women in the World summit at Lincoln Center, conducting interviews with panelists and participants on issues including maternal health, women's entrepreneurship, and countering violent extremism.[43][44]

In April 2018, PBS announced that Hoover would host a revival of Firing Line, the long-running public affairs program originally hosted by William F. Buckley Jr.[45]

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (PBS TV Series)

Hoover hosts Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, a revival of William F. Buckley Jr.'s public-affairs television program Firing Line.[46] The original show aired on PBS for 33 years, the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host.[47]

Hoover's show premiered on June 2, 2018, on WNET, which serves the New York metropolitan area, and is the largest PBS market in the country.[48][49]

Hoover has said that the revived series was intended to encourage longer-form political discussion and expose viewers to a range of perspectives. In a 2018 interview with Parade, she described Firing Line as an "antidote to the times we're in," arguing that contemporary political media often relies on "talking points" rather than substantive discussion and that the program would seek to "explore the nuance" of public affairs issues.[50] PBS president and chief executive officer Paula Kerger cited Firing Line with Margaret Hoover as an example of the network's public-affairs programming, stating that the series "creates a forum for people with a wide range of views to respectfully share ideas."[51]

The New York Times wrote, "Under Ms. Hoover's direction, the discourse is civil and substantive".[52]

National Review columnist Kevin D. Williamson wrote that the revival of Firing Line came at "an interesting time, and a needful one," describing the program as an opportunity for more substantive political discourse.[53]

In the run-up to the show's premiere, Politico Magazine described the revival as an experiment aimed at testing whether audiences were interested in more substantive and less confrontational political discussion.[54]

In May 2019, The Algemeiner named Hoover its Journalist of the Year for her work on Firing Line.[55]

Personal life

Hoover is married to journalist and political commentator John Avlon, a former speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani, former editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, and Democratic nominee for New York's 1st congressional district in 2024.[56][57] They have a son, born in 2013 and a daughter, born in 2015.[58][59]

Selected works

  • Hoover, Margaret (July 2011). American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party (Hardbound ed.). New York: Crown Forum. ISBN 978-0307718150.

See also

References

  1. Green, Penelope (July 11, 2018). "At Home With Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on Their Post-Partisan Marriage". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Ms. Hoover, a former Fox News contributor who once scuffled with Bill O'Reilly when he got her name wrong ... is a great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover.
  2. "'Firing Line': PBS Reloads Public-Affairs Show With Host Margaret Hoover". Deadline. April 26, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2026. PBS is bringing back an iconic property after nearly two decades. The pubcaster said today that a new version of Firing Line, the William F. Buckley-hosted public-affairs show it aired from 1966-99, will premiere in June. The new host is political strategist and commentator Margaret Hoover.
  3. "Margaret Hoover, John Avlon". The New York Times. November 6, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2026. She is the daughter of Jean W. Hoover and Andrew Hoover of Littleton, Colo. Her father, a mining engineer, retired from Greenfield Engineering in Denver. He is also on the board of the Hoover library association. Her mother retired as a flight attendant for United Airlines.
  4. Hoover, Margaret (2011). American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party. Crown Forum. p. 159. I was raised in Colorado.
  5. Hoover, Bob (July 24, 2011). "Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover defends her great-grandfather: President Hoover". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  6. "Grade 7: Celebrity Alumna Returns to Campus". graland.org. Graland Country Day School. November 9, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  7. "Margaret Hoover, John Avlon". The New York Times. November 6, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2026. She graduated from Bryn Mawr.
  8. "2024 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony". YouTube. Hofstra University. May 2024. Retrieved May 18, 2026. My first job when I graduated on a day like today in a robe like yours was ... with a major in Spanish language...
  9. "100 Notable Alumni of Davidson College". EduRank. March 15, 2026. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Margaret Hoover
  10. Norfleet, Gregory R. (December 23, 2008). "Great-granddaughter of Hoover engaged to Giuliani speechwriter". West Branch Times. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Fluent in Spanish, she in 2001 earned a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish Language Literature with a minor in political science from Bryn Mawr College.
  11. "2024 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony". YouTube. Hofstra University. May 2024. Retrieved May 18, 2026. I had studied Mandarin Chinese. I had spent a semester in Beijing.
  12. "Margaret Hoover - Board Member". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Raised in Colorado, Hoover has lived in China, Mexico, Bolivia, and Taiwan, speaks fluent Spanish, and studied Mandarin Chinese. She earned a B.A. in Spanish literature with a minor in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College in 2001.
  13. "Margaret Hoover: A New Generation of Conservatives and the Future of the Republican Party". Commonwealth Club World Affairs. July 26, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2026. When I graduated from college, I moved to Taipei, Taiwan, where I got my first job as a research assistant and editor in a Taiwanese law firm. Everything really changed for me the first day I arrived there, which was September 11, 2001.
  14. "How Abortion, Legitimate Rape, and Mom-in-Chief Will Affect the Election". The New Yorker. September 19, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Margaret Hoover served as White House Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs under President George W. Bush and as the deputy finance director for Rudy Giuliani's Presidential exploratory committee.
  15. Smith, Chris (March 2007). "Giuliani Loses a Second Bushie". New York. Retrieved May 18, 2026. Margaret Hoover joined Giuliani's Solutions America PAC in September to help direct fund-raising operations, but her greater value was to shore up the former mayor's credentials with conservatives and to signal Giuliani's seriousness about a White House run.
  16. "Weddings: Margaret Hoover, John Avlon". The New York Times. November 6, 2009. pp. ST13. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  17. Norfleet, Gregory R. (December 23, 2008). "Great-granddaughter of Hoover engaged to Giuliani speechwriter". West Branch Times. Retrieved June 15, 2026. She has served as ... senior advisor to the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and deputy press secretary for Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart.
  18. "Hoover Institution Board of Overseers". Hoover Institution. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Margaret Hoover
  19. "Freedom House Welcomes New Board Members Margaret Hoover, David Pressman". Freedom House. June 4, 2026. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Freedom House is pleased to announce that journalist Margaret Hoover and former US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman are joining the Freedom House Board.
  20. "American Foundation for Equal Rights Names Advisory Board". American Foundation for Equal Rights. January 9, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2026. The American Foundation for Equal Rights today announced its advisory board ... Margaret Hoover.
  21. Avlon, John (February 9, 2011). "Gay group in conservatives' gathering splits GOP". CNN. Retrieved June 15, 2026. My wife, Margaret Hoover, also serves on the GOProud board.
  22. Hoover, Margaret (June 15, 2011). "Gay marriage: A conservative idea". Daily News. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Same-sex marriage is consistent with the party's legacy of individual freedom and limited government. It is a profoundly conservative virtue.
  23. Hoover, Margaret (May 9, 2012). "In GOP, support for same-sex marriage is growing". CNN. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Republicans put the bill on the New York state Senate floor and provided the votes needed to make same-sex marriage a reality... As a New York resident, I personally advocated for the passage of freedom to marry in Albany last summer.
  24. Helgeson, Baird (November 7, 2012). "Marriage amendment nears defeat". Minnesota Star Tribune. In a bid to reach out to Republicans, conservative CNN commentator Margaret Hoover came to the Twin Cities over the weekend to aid Minnesotans United in its final push.
  25. DePledge, Derrick (February 19, 2014). "Advocates spend $509,900 in lobbying for gay marriage". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved June 15, 2026. The American Unity Fund, a Virginia-based advocacy group led by Margaret Hoover, a national Republican strategist, contributed about $62,500.
  26. Ocamb, Karen (November 21, 2019). "'Firing Line' host Margaret Hoover explains the GOP". Los Angeles Blade. Retrieved June 15, 2026. The concept of individual freedom led her to the fight for LGBTQ equality and not giving up on the legacy of the GOP.
  27. Gallagher, Maggie (July 27, 2011). "Suicide of the Hoover Republicans". Northwest Signal. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Margaret Hoover's attack came just a few days after her erstwhile boss, Rudy Giuliani, went on CNN's 'State of the Union' and urged Republicans to 'move on' from the marriage issue.
  28. Ocamb, Karen (November 21, 2019). "'Firing Line' host Margaret Hoover explains the GOP". Los Angeles Blade. Retrieved June 15, 2026. I always thought LGBT freedom was entirely consistent with the brand of Western Conservatism I grew up with in Colorado — the same western conservatism that was socially libertarian.
  29. Hoover, Margaret (June 15, 2011). "Gay marriage: A conservative idea". Daily News. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Limited-government conservatives believe in maximum individual freedom consistent with law and order.
  30. Hoover, Margaret (July 7, 2011). "GOP isn't party of intolerance". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Conservatives are right to value marriage as the world's most powerful social institution. But to deny one class of citizens the freedom to marry based on their sexual orientation is discriminatory—anathema to the great tradition of freedom and equal opportunity upon which the Republican Party was founded.
  31. "A New Conservative Agenda". The Advocate. July 5, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Hoover is pro-gay and a favored Fox News guest—one of the few unwilling to soft-pedal support for marriage equality.
  32. Daily Beast citation
  33. Mabry, Marcus (February 26, 2013). "Right to Marry". The New York Times TimesCast. Retrieved June 15, 2026. If we are the party of individual freedom, we should be consistently the party of individual freedom ... The government shouldn't restrain those freedoms.
  34. Avlon, John (February 28, 2013). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay Marriage Brief". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Nearly 60 new Republicans have signed an amicus brief in support of the freedom to marry ... strategists and media figures such as Alex Castellanos, Margaret Hoover, Nicolle Wallace, Steve Schmidt, S.E. Cupp, Ana Navarro and The Daily Beast's own David Frum and Mark McKinnon.
  35. Mabry, Marcus (February 26, 2013). "Right to Marry". The New York Times TimesCast. Retrieved June 15, 2026. There is a group of people who hope that the Republican Party can get back to being the party of the big tent on social issues ... we can't be exclusionary because of these social issues.
  36. Greenwood, Max (September 2, 2020). "Conservative commentator Margaret Hoover says she will 'quite likely' vote for Biden". The Hill. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Hoover called the 2020 presidential election a 'binary choice' between Trump and Biden ... 'I can't bring myself to vote for Donald Trump' ... and acknowledged that she 'will quite likely be casting my vote for Joe Biden.'
  37. Sykes, Charlie (May 21, 2023). "My Conversation With Margaret Hoover". The Bulwark. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Former President Trump continues to present a unique threat to the country. He consistently lies. He degrades our political discourse. He displays dangerous authoritarian tendencies, including invoking an attack against the Capitol in order to overturn the 2020 election.
  38. Hoover, Margaret (July 2011). American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party. Crown Forum. ISBN 978-0307718150.
  39. Hoover, Margaret (February 10, 2012). "CPAC 2012 moves away from gay conservatives and closer to the politics of hate". Fox News. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Her book 'American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party' (Crown Forum) was released in July 2011.
  40. Hoover, Margaret (March 12, 2015). "CPAC 2012 moves away from gay conservatives and closer to the politics of hate". Fox News. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  41. "What's Behind Oprah's Love of Denmark?". The O'Reilly Factor. Fox News. January 15, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Here now, the 'Culture Warriors,' Fox News analyst Margaret Hoover and 'Fox & Friends' co-anchor Gretchen Carlson.
  42. Werpin, Alex (May 9, 2012). "Margaret Hoover Joins CNN as Political Contributor". adweek.com. Adweek Network TV Newser. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  43. Bennett, Jessica (May 16, 2014). "Feminism, One Conference at a Time". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Today that conference fills 2,500 seats over three days at Lincoln Center.
  44. "Women in the World: Toyota Solutions Studio". Women in the World (YouTube). April 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2026. I'm Margaret Hoover and we're here at Women in the World ... this is the Toyota Solutions Studio.
  45. Pedersen, Erik (April 26, 2018). "'Firing Line': PBS Reloads Public-Affairs Show With Host Margaret Hoover". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 15, 2026. PBS is bringing back an iconic property after nearly two decades. The new host is political strategist and commentator Margaret Hoover.
  46. Simon, Scott (June 9, 2018). "William F. Buckley's Firing Line Returns With Margaret Hoover". NPR. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Almost 20 years since Firing Line ceased production, Margaret Hoover is stepping in to become the next host of the conservative talk show on PBS.
  47. "Firing Line Broadcast Records". Hoover Institution Archives. Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Retrieved June 15, 2026.
  48. Pedersen, Erik (April 26, 2018). "'Firing Line': PBS Reloads Public-Affairs Show With Host Margaret Hoover". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Firing Line with Margaret Hoover will launch at 10 AM Saturday, June 2, on New York's Thirteen.
  49. "The WNET Group Announces Plans to Transition to NEXTGEN TV: First Broadcaster in the Nation's Largest Designated Market Area to Commit to ATSC 3.0 Service". WNET. February 1, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2026. New York City and surrounding areas – the #1 television market in the country.
  50. Hochwald, Lambeth (June 21, 2018). "Margaret Hoover Says Firing Line Reboot Is 'Antidote to the Times We're In'". Parade. Retrieved June 15, 2026. This fractured time is exactly why I'm doing this ... This is my antidote to the times we're in. We're not going to do talking points. Instead, we'll try to do ourselves a favor and explore the nuance.
  51. "WATCH: Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, testifies on federal money for public broadcasting". PBS News. March 26, 2025. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Firing Line with Margaret Hoover creates a forum for people with a wide range of views to respectfully share ideas.
  52. Green, Penelope (July 11, 2018). "Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on Their Post-Partisan Marriage". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Under Ms. Hoover's direction, 'Firing Line' is a safe space for a certain brand of conservative ... The discourse is civil and substantive.
  53. Williamson, Kevin D. (June 3, 2018). "A Hoover Restoration". National Review. Retrieved June 15, 2026. The reincarnation of Firing Line comes at an interesting time, and a needful one.
  54. Hendershot, Heather (June 1, 2018). "Is America Ready for Kinder, Gentler Political TV?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved June 15, 2026. The reply is both earnest and modest: It seems like a great idea, so let's test drive it and see what happens.
  55. "Journalists Margaret Hoover, Jackson Diehl Honored at Algemeiner Summer Benefit". The Algemeiner. May 16, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2026. PBS host Margaret Hoover and Washington Post editor Jackson Diehl received 'Journalist of the Year' awards.
  56. Green, Penelope (July 11, 2018). "Margaret Hoover and John Avlon on Their Post-Partisan Marriage". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Mr. Avlon, 45 and the former editor of The Daily Beast, is an anchor at CNN. The pair met during Rudolph W. Giuliani's 2008 presidential bid. Mr. Avlon had been Mr. Giuliani's speechwriter when he was mayor.
  57. Ngo, Emily; Anuta, Joe (June 25, 2024). "Avlon wins competitive Democratic primary on Long Island". Politico. Retrieved June 15, 2026. Former CNN host John Avlon triumphed over chemist and professor Nancy Goroff on Long Island Tuesday, clinching the Democratic nomination to face off this fall against GOP Rep. Nick LaLota in a battleground district.
  58. Norfleet, Gregory R. (August 23, 2013). "'Jack' joins Hoover lineage". The West Branch Times. Retrieved June 15, 2026. John Avlon and Margaret Hoover welcomed a baby boy — 'Jack' — at 7:23 p.m. Aug. 14, 2013.
  59. "Hoovers welcome Toula Lou". The West Branch Times. December 10, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2026. John Avlon and Margaret Hoover announced the birth of daughter Toula Lou Hoover Avlon.