Barbara Boxer: The Senior Senator from California
Biographical Info:
(http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b000711)
Barbara Boxer (74 years old) is a Democratic senator and former representative from California. Boxer was born on November 11th, 1940 and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She was raised in a Jewish family and practices Judaism today. She graduated from Wingate High School in 1958 and Brooklyn College in 1962, where she met her husband of 50 years, Stewart Boxer.
(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#early-life)
Boxer received a Bachelor's degree in Economics and got a job as a stockbroker before moving to California in 1965 and having two children, a son and daughter.
Boxer first ran for office in 1972, unsuccessfully seeking a position on the Marin County Board of Supervisors. Four years later in 1976, Boxer began work as a journalist at The Pacific Sun. During the same year, Boxer ran for the same office she sought in 1972, this time successfully. Six years later, Boxer ran successfully to represent California district 6 in the House of Representatives, which was a major step in her political career.
Her Political Career:
(https://www.congress.gov/member/barbara-boxer/116?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22barbara+boxer%22%5D%7D)
Boxer served in the House, representing district 6 from 1983 until 1992, at which point she ran successfully for the Senate, where holds her seat today.
(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#democratic-leader)
Boxer developed a strongly liberal identity immediately during her time in Congress. She's a staunch advocate for abortion rights and environmental causes and a vocal opponent of going to war, especially during the First Gulf War.
Boxer served as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and, as a member, brought much attention to misuse of military funding for the Pentagon.
During her time in the Senate, Boxer has also opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and use of military force in Iraq in 2002. Boxer also pushed efforts for voting reform, specifically by co-sponsoring the Count Every Vote Act in 2005. Additionally, Boxer served as Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic party after her re-election in 2004 and currently serves on the Environment and Public Works committee as the highest ranking Democrat.
Boxer will not be seeking re-election this year, which may prompt her to act atypically compared to other Senators.
According to the US Bureau of Census, California is home to roughly 39 million people currently which is about 4 million more than the population of Canada. As a result, California has 53 congressional districts--more than any other state in the union.
(http://religions.pewforum.org/maps)
According to Pew, California is home to more Catholics and Unaffiliated persons per capita than the national average, both by about a 5% margin. There are also fewer Protestants per capita in California compared to the national average. Additionally, California is known for being a more liberal state on average for many reasons. One such reason is urbanization in the state with enormous cities like Sacramento (capital), Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and San Diego.
(http://www.city-data.com/states/California-Industry.html)
California is known for its large and burgeoning manufacturing industry, which supports a number of other industries including technological development for computers in Silicon Valley and development and manufacturing of aerospace technologies.
California is most notorious for Hollywood, the capital of the film industry. Hollywood film and TV production maintains hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates roughly $42 billion for the Californian economy annually.
Fun facts!
(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#early-life)
Senator Boxer has had some elections that were, if nothing else, rather eventful or memorable.
Boxer's race for the Senate in 1992 ended successfully for her as her opponent's (Bruce Hershensohn) campaign crashed and burned after reports that he was visiting a nude bar. That's certainly one way lose votes.
Later during her 2004 election, Boxer defeated the Republican Candidate (Bill Jones) by nearly 7 million popular votes, which was a difference in the amount votes received between two candidates that still remains a national record today.
