She made the lack of female representation in the U. Senate a cornerstone of her campaign. Boxer's first obstacle in her campaign for the Senate was a tough primary, with two strong male contenders who also had solid records on women's rights. Boxer then went on to face Bruce Herschensohn, a conservative television commentator, in the general election. Despite her ten-year Congressional career, she cast herself as a Washington outsider, whose gender made her a gadfly to the establishment.
This picture was somewhat damaged by the revelation during the campaign that she had bounced checks at the U. House of Representatives bank. Despite this setback, Boxer relied on her ability to identify issues that voters cared about, and get her position across in a punchy and appealing manner.
In a year in which more women than ever before were elected to the Senate, Boxer won her race in November of , becoming, along with Dianne Feinstein, one of two women to make up the California delegation. As a senator Boxer has continued to push the liberal agenda she supported as a representative, and she has remained sensitive to issues of importance to women.
She joined the effort to pressure Senator Bob Packwood, under fire for sexual harassment, to fully disclose his actions, and she mounted a campaign, with the other five women in the Senate, to punish a Navy admiral for the Tailhook sex scandal.
Boxer has worked for increased funding for breast cancer research and domestic violence programs. She also staunchly supported an openly gay San Francisco woman for a job at the Department of Health and Human Services, and she fought to end restrictions on gays in the military.
In addition, Boxer has remained true to her roots in the environmental movement. She is on the Committee on Environment and Public Works and belongs to three of its subcomittees. She battled a plan to place a radioactive dump in the California desert and pushed for the restoration of ten wetlands areas in California.
Boxer has also worked hard to restore the ailing economy of her home state. In the name of California jobs, she endorsed a controversial proposal to deploy National Guard troops along the Mexican border to cut down on illegal immigration. She also supported a move to give members of the agricultural industry more time to renegotiate federal water contracts.
As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Finance, Boxer promotes America's competitiveness in today's global economy by lowering trade barriers and expanding exports. In an effort to keep in touch with the constituents of her vast state, Boxer began inviting voters to write to her, and she was soon receiving more mail than any other senator.
This outpouring suggests that Boxer has done an effective job of reaching out to the voters of California. Boxer appears to be laying the groundwork for a long career in the Senate, capping her evolution into an effective feminist and liberal politician.
All rights reserved. Declares Candicacy On the strength of these activities, Boxer declared her candidacy for elective office for the first time in Elected to House In the early s Boxer's local congressional district, the Sixth District of California, was redrawn in a manner that helped to insure the re-election of incumbent John L.
Runs for Senate The treatment of Hill at the Senate hearings proved to be a political watershed, and when California Senator Alan Cranston announced that he would relinquish his seat after being tainted in a savings and loan scandal, Boxer decided to give up her secure Congressional berth and run for the Senate as a long-shot candidate in Column: Yes, Democrats have a messaging problem.
The bigger problem is who has the megaphone. Op-Ed: Abortion restrictions widely punish military women. All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries.
Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Uhlenkott, Linda Anne. University of Nevada, Reno, Have an update or correction? Let us know. Episode E. Lockhart's New Jewish Superhero. Johnston, Robert D.. Jewish Women's Archive. Learn more. Barbara Boxer b. November 11, Institution: Senator Barbara Boxer, California. In Brief. The news that Sen. Barbara Boxer would not run for her Senate seat again after nearly four decades in public life was a watershed moment for California and for her fellow Democrats, signifying the end of a political career that has come to embody Bay Area liberalism.
Her announcement also set off a scramble among state politicians who have been waiting for a California Senate seat to open for more than two decades. The move was not a complete surprise. Boxer had not been raising money for a reelection campaign, as rumors abounded that she wanted to spend more time with her family and had grown weary of the long commute to Washington.
The announcement sparked a deluge of gushing statements from fellow Democrats. Her Senate career was forged at a crucial time for women in politics. In , Boxer — then a member of the House — was among the seven lawmakers who marched up the steps of the male-dominated Senate and demanded that a vote on the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation be postponed so accusations of sexual harassment against him could be investigated. The protest instigated the televised hearings that nearly sank Thomas.
It also triggered a national backlash against the Senate that created openings that swept Boxer, Sen. In the race, Boxer beat conservative television personality Bruce Herschensohn by 4. In every Senate election since, Boxer beat her rival by double digits, most recently former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina in Boxer told reporters Thursday that she did not believe she would have been elected to the Senate in her first run without the Thomas investigation.
Feinstein, who spoke with Boxer by phone shortly before the announcement, reflected on that time Thursday.
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