Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician, lobbyist and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for California's 6th congressional district from 1983 until 1993.
"Barbara Levy" redirects here. For the AMA RUC chairperson, see Barbara Levy, MD.
Barbara Boxer
Jim Inhofe
November 11, 1940
New York City, U.S.
2
Senate website (Archived)
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Boxer graduated from George W. Wingate High School and Brooklyn College. She worked as a stockbroker for several years before moving to California with her husband. During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and as an aide to U.S. Representative John L. Burton. She served on the Marin County Board of Supervisors for six years and became the board's first female president. With the slogan "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn", she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, representing California's 6th district.
Boxer won the 1992 election for the U.S. Senate. Running for a third term in 2004, she received 6.96 million votes, becoming the first person to ever get more than 6 million votes in a Senate election and set a record for the most votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, until her colleague, Dianne Feinstein, the senior senator from California, surpassed that number in her 2012 re-election.[1] Boxer and Feinstein were the first female pair of U.S. Senators representing any state at the same time.[2][3][4] Boxer was the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the vice chair of the Select Committee on Ethics. She was also the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip. Boxer is known for her liberal perspectives.
Boxer did not seek re-election in 2016.[5] She was succeeded by then-California Attorney General and future Vice President Kamala Harris. In January 2020, Boxer joined Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs as co-chairwoman.[6] In January 2021, it was reported that Boxer was working as registered foreign agent for Hikvision, a Chinese state-sponsored surveillance company implicated in human rights abuses.[7] After initially defending her work for Hikvision, Boxer reversed course and deregistered as a foreign agent.[8] In October 2021, Boxer and others led a high-profile mass exodus of employees from Mercury's California office to form their own public affairs and consulting company.[9]
Early life, family, and education[edit]
Barbara Sue Levy was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Sophie (née Silvershein) and Ira Levy,[10][11] a Jewish couple.[10] She attended public schools, graduating from George W. Wingate High School in 1958.[12]
In 1962, she married Stewart Boxer and graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor's degree in economics. Barbara and Stewart Boxer moved to California in 1965.[11]
Early career[edit]
Boxer worked as a stockbroker in the early 1960s while her husband went to law school.[12] In 1968, after relocating to California, she worked on the presidential primary campaign of antiwar challenger Eugene McCarthy. In 1970, she co-founded the anti-Vietnam War Marin Alliance.[11]
Boxer first ran for political office in 1972, when she challenged incumbent Republican Peter Arrigoni, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, but lost a close election. From 1972 to 1974, Boxer worked as a reporter and editor for the Pacific Sun.[11] She then managed the Marin campaign of John Burton, the brother of Phillip Burton, who then was the Congressman representing southern San Francisco, California. John Burton intended to run against incumbent Republican District 6 Congressman William S. Mailliard from Belvedere, California. The district would be renumbered as the 5th District in January 1975.[13] However, Mailliard resigned on March 5, 1974, so John Burton also ran in the special election to fill the remainder of the incumbent's 6th District term.[14] Burton narrowly won both crowded races and was sworn into office in 1974, and Boxer became his staff aide.[11]
In 1976, Boxer was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors, serving for six years.[12] She was the board's first female president.[15]
U.S. Senator[edit]
Elections[edit]
Four-term incumbent Democratic Senator Alan Cranston did not seek re-election in 1992.[21] Boxer opted to run for Senate. In what was billed as the "Year of the Woman",[22] Boxer beat fellow Rep. Mel Levine and Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy in the Democratic primary, winning 44% of the vote.[23] In the general election, Boxer defeated Republican Bruce Herschensohn by 4.9%.[24] A last-minute revelation that Herschensohn had patronized a strip club at least partially affected the outcome.[25] In 1998, Boxer won a second term, beating sitting California State Treasurer Matt Fong by 10.1% of the vote.[26] In 2004, after facing no primary opposition, Boxer defeated GOP candidate Bill Jones, the former California Secretary of State, by 20%.[27] In 2010, Boxer defeated Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, by 10%.[28] Boxer did not seek re-election in 2016.[29]
Books[edit]
Boxer's first novel, A Time to Run, was published in 2005 by San Francisco-based Chronicle Books.[102] Her second novel, Blind Trust, was released in July 2009 by Chronicle Books.
Personal life[edit]
Barbara and Stewart Boxer had two children, Doug and Nicole.[11] On May 28, 1994, Nicole Boxer married Tony Rodham, the younger brother of Hillary Clinton, in a ceremony at the White House attended by 250 guests.[103] (This was the first White House wedding since Tricia Nixon married Edward Cox in 1971.)[103] Before divorcing, Boxer and Rodham had a son, Zachary, in 1995.[104]
In 2006, Barbara and Stewart Boxer sold their house in Greenbrae, California and moved to Rancho Mirage.[105]
On July 26, 2021, Boxer was assaulted and robbed of her mobile phone in the Jack London Square section of Oakland, California. A $2,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest. Boxer was not seriously injured in the attack.[106][107]