Boxer not seeking re-election in 2016
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a standard-bearer of liberal politics who has served in Congress for more than three decades, announced Thursday she will not run for another term.
Boxer made her announcement during an interview with her grandson, which she posted on her political website. She said she was not leaving the Senate because of the rancorous tone on Capitol Hill or because of her age.
“Some people are old at 40 and some people are young at 80,” Boxer said. “I feel as young as I did when I got elected.” But she said she wants to return to California and continue her political work through her political action committee.
“I am never going to retire,” she said. “The work is too important. But I will not be running for the Senate in 2016.”
The departure of the 74-year-old progressive is expected to set off a scramble among the state’s most prominent politicians, several of whom are expected to run for her seat.
Boxer has been among the Senate’s most unyielding advocates for environmentalists, women’s rights groups and organized labor. A feisty crusader with a taste for confrontation, Boxer’s combative style was not always conducive to the nuances of legislative deal-making, leaving the senator with few landmark laws bearing her name.