--- description: Sen. Barbara Boxer may step down at the end of this term. Here are the California political hopefuls who could make a bid for her seat. title: Meet the People Who Might Try to Replace Barbara Boxer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34c70a159e1f3f76/698684dc3bc99945ad1a244a/barbar-boxer-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Meet the People Who Might Try to Replace Barbara Boxer  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2014 9:44 PM CUT  Senator Barbara Boxer speaks during a press conference in Washington on Feb. 6, 2014. Senator Barbara Boxer speaks during a press conference in Washington on Feb. 6, 2014.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2014 9:44 PM CUT If Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer steps down at the end of this term—as many are speculating she will—it would be the first major shakeup in California congressional politics in years. With that in mind, Golden State political hopefuls are already jockeying for position to succeed her. To be sure, many of the names being floated will never rise much further than this list, but here are some of the people who may try to succeed her.  Eric Garcetti is the mayor of Los Angeles. He’s the city’s first elected Jewish mayor and the youngest in over 100 years. David McNew—Getty Images  Neel Kashkari ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in the 2014 California gubernatorial election. As Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability from 2008 to 2009, he oversaw the country’s response to the 2008 financial crisis. Joshua Roberts—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard and ran unsuccessfully for a Republican Senate seat from California in 2010. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Kamala Harris is the current attorney general of California. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Antonio Villaraigosa was the mayor of Los Angeles before Garcetti, serving from 2005 to 2013. Michael Buckner—Getty Images  Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and the author of "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead." Britta Pedersen—AP  John Chiang is the California State Controller. David Paul—Bloomberg/Getty Images  A member of the Kennedy family, Bobby Shriver is a businessman and former Santa Monica City Council member who just lost a bid for an open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. David Hume Kennerly—Getty Images  Alex Padilla was a California state senator from 2006 to 2014. Rich Pedroncelli—AP ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3624292/barbara-boxer-california-resign-replacements/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3624292/barbara-boxer-california-resign-replacements/"},"headline":"Meet the People Who Might Try to Replace Barbara Boxer","datePublished":"2014-12-08T21:44:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:46.191Z","description":"The list is long, but so far entirely speculative","url":"https://time.com/3624292/barbara-boxer-california-resign-replacements/","keywords":["2016 Election","California","2016 Election topic","Senate","elections","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34c70a159e1f3f76/698684dc3bc99945ad1a244a/barbar-boxer-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34c70a159e1f3f76/698684dc3bc99945ad1a244a/barbar-boxer-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senator Barbara Boxer","caption":"Senator Barbara Boxer speaks during a press conference in Washington on Feb. 6, 2014.","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3624292/barbara-boxer-california-resign-replacements/","name":"Meet the People Who Might Try to Replace Barbara Boxer"}}]}] ```