Fact-checking Andra Hoffman

Anyone who reads this website regularly knows that this website usually avoids criticizing current candidates or elected officials. However, while doing some preliminary biographical research this evening on the candidates in the AD-45 Special Election, I found an error on candidate Andra Hoffman‘s website that I felt was worth highlighting.

Her campaign biography notes that she “has been teaching state and local government and politics at Glendale College since 2006.” The same page shows a photo of Hoffman happily teaching her students about state government. On the whiteboard above her head is writing that notes about Jerry Brown that “Fact – Youngest Gov. and Oldest Gov.”

In fact, Brown was not California’s youngest Governor (that title belongs to J. Neely Johnson, who was 30 when first elected Governor) although he is the oldest. Not that she’s the only person to have made this mistake; this error was in several national outlets;

New York Times: “But as Mr. Brown — who in 1974 was elected as the state’s youngest governor and on Tuesday was elected as its oldest…”

NPR: “Back in the 1970s, Jerry Brown was the state’s youngest governor. Now, at 72, he’s about to become its oldest.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Once California’s youngest governor, Jerry Brown reprises his role as the state’s chief executive starting Monday, now as the oldest person elected to that office.”

This not something critical that I would expect every California voter to know, but when someone running for Assembly touts as one of their primary credentials that she is a California Government teacher… well, it makes me a little sad.