Barbara Levy Boxer (born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and the current junior United States Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Boxer was first elected in 1992. Throughout her career Boxer has been a vocal advocate for environmental issues, women's rights, gun control and the rights of the minority in the Senate. She is generally classified as a liberal Democrat, although she voted in favor of the PATRIOT Act which was much criticized by liberal groups. Her electoral margins have increased each time she sought re-election.
Born Barbara Levy in Brooklyn, New York, Boxer graduated from Brooklyn College in 1962 with a degree in economics, and then worked as a journalist and a stockbroker. Boxer and her husband, Stewart Boxer, have two children. Their daughter, Nicole Boxer, married Tony Rodham, brother of Hillary Clinton, in a ceremony at the White House in 1994. The couple had one son, Zachary, and they divorced in 2000. Boxer recently announced that she is working on a novel to be published by San Francisco-based publishing company Chronicle Books. [1]
Boxer previously served six years on the Marin County, California Board of Supervisors, where she served, for a part of the time, as the first woman president of the board. She was then elected to the United States House of Representatives, where she represented her Marin County district for 10 years. In 1992 she won an open Senate seat, and was reelected by a comfortable margin in 1998. She had decided to retire in 2004 but says she decided to recontest to "fight for the right to dissent" against conservatives like Tom DeLay. In 2004, Boxer won by over 20%, garnering the most votes in the history of California and the third highest vote total in 2004 (behind only presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry).
In late 2004, Boxer was appointed as chief deputy whip for the Senate Democrats; this gives her the job, along with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, of lining up votes on key legislation.
2004 electoral vote objection
In congress on January 6, 2005, Boxer was joined by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in objecting to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. She called the challenge her "opening shot to be able to focus the light of truth on these terrible problems in the electoral system". [2] For many activists, this signaled the start of what they have affectionately called "The Boxer Rebellion".
As a gesture of appreciation and support for her efforts, Stacy Davies of California began, via email, the "Barbara Boxer Rose Campaign", wherein people collaborated to buy Senator Boxer roses. The campaign drew an impressive response, and 4,500 roses were sent en masse to Senator Boxer's office on Valentine's Day, 2005.
Senator Boxer continued to openly condemn the integrity of the Bush administration. During the confirmation hearing for Condoleezza Rice, Boxer challenged the Secretary of State nominee to admit to mistakes allegedly made by the Bush administration in leading the U.S. into the 2003 invasion of Iraq. [3] She later voted against both Dr. Rice and current U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who had drawn fire for his involvement in U.S. policies condoning torture. For these stands in early 2005, Boxer became the darling of many liberal activists.
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