--- title: Barbara Boxer to Retire as Senator from California description: "I want to come home," Barbara Boxer said. canonical: https://time.com/3659653/barbara-boxer-retire-senate/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-08T16:48:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-17T17:10:46.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Longtime California Senator to Retire from Congress og:description: "I want to come home," Barbara Boxer said. og:url: https://time.com/3659653/barbara-boxer-retire-senate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aaa596dea6e8f36/698778d1f887dcf595e89684/barbara-boxer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Barbara Boxer og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Longtime California Senator to Retire from Congress twitter:description: "I want to come home," Barbara Boxer said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aaa596dea6e8f36/698778d1f887dcf595e89684/barbara-boxer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Longtime California Senator to Retire from Congress > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Jan 17, 2024 5:10 PM UTCPublished: Jan 8, 2015 4:48 PM UTC  Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., speaks during the Senate Democrats' news conference after the Senate's vote on the "Paycheck Fairness Act" in Washington on Sept. 10, 2014. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., speaks during the Senate Democrats' news conference after the Senate's vote on the "Paycheck Fairness Act" in Washington on Sept. 10, 2014. Bill Clark—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Jan 17, 2024 5:10 PM UTCPublished: Jan 8, 2015 4:48 PM UTC Longtime California Sen. Barbara Boxer announced Thursday that she won’t run for reelection in 2016, [setting the stage for one of the most expensive Senate races in the nation](http://time.com/3624292/barbara-boxer-california-resign-replacements/). In a video posted on YouTube, Boxer, a Democrat who has been fielding rumors of her retirement for months, announced she would not seek a fifth term in the Senate. “I want to come home,” she told her grandson in the video. “I want to come home to the state that I love so much, California.” “I am never going to retire,” she said. “The work is too important. But I will not be running for the Senate in 2016.” Her announcement sets up a scramble in California politics, where the state’s “jungle primary” pits the top two primary finishers against each other in a general election regardless of party. Democrats already being mentioned for the seat include Attorney General Kamala Harris, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ruled himself out of contention hours after Boxer’s announcement: > [](https://twitter.com/latseema/status/553263055724105728) Boxer’s campaign committee raised just $342,387 from Jan. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014, according to Federal Election Commission records, a stunningly small figure for one of the most senior Democrats in the Senate from one of the wealthiest states. Before Republicans regained control of the Senate this week, Boxer was the chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. In 2010, Boxer defeated former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina in the state by a margin of 10 percentage points. ### Photos: Meet the People Who Might Try to Replace Barbara Boxer  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. 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