Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017.

[6] In January 2021, it was reported that Boxer was working as registered foreign agent for Hikvision, a Chinese state-sponsored surveillance company implicated in human rights abuses.

[8] In October 2021, Boxer and others led a high-profile mass exodus of employees from Mercury's California office to form their own public affairs and consulting company.

[11] Boxer first ran for political office in 1972, when she challenged incumbent Republican Peter Arrigoni, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, but lost a close election.

John Burton intended to run against incumbent Republican District 6 Congressman William S. Mailliard from Belvedere, California.

[13][failed verification] However, Mailliard resigned on March 5, 1974, so John Burton also ran in the special election to fill the remainder of the incumbent's 6th District term.

[14][failed verification] Burton narrowly won both crowded races and was sworn into office in 1974,[citation needed] and Boxer became his staff aide.

[15] Boxer, then a Marin County supervisor, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, succeeding John Burton.

In what was billed as the "Year of the Woman",[22] Boxer beat fellow Rep. Mel Levine and Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy in the Democratic primary, winning 44% of the vote.

[26] In 2004, after facing no primary opposition, Boxer defeated GOP candidate Bill Jones, the former California Secretary of State, by 20%.

[30] On January 6, 2005, Boxer joined Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in filing a U.S. congressional objection to the certification of Ohio's Electoral College votes in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

[38] However, she reneged on that pledge and remained neutral, only officially backing Barack Obama's candidacy the day after the last primaries, once he had garnered enough delegate votes to clinch the nomination.

[41] In April 2017, Boxer served as the keynote speaker for the Environmental Student Assembly's Earth Month at the University of Southern California.

In an emailed statement to the press regarding the returned donation, Boxer defended her work as a registered foreign agent by saying, "When I am asked to provide strategic advice to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs.

"[7] Later that same day, Boxer reversed course and publicly announced on Twitter that she would deregister as a foreign agent for Hikvision, writing, "Due to the intense response to my registration I have determined that my continued work has become a negative distraction from my effort to preserve American jobs and make the company better.

Boxer introduced a bill on November 15, 2016, calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and to select future presidents by a simple national vote only.

This bill was introduced six days after Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite losing the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

[61] Boxer successfully led the 2003 Senate floor battle to block oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

[64] Boxer was the Senate sponsor of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006.

The bill protected 275,830 acres (1,116 km2) of federal land as wilderness and 21 miles (34 km) of stream as a wild and scenic river, including such popular areas as the King Range and Cache Creek.

[66] In 1997, the Senate passed a Boxer resolution calling on the United States not to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan because of its human rights abuses against women.

[67] In 2012, Boxer and a bipartisan group of six senators introduced a resolution condemning Russia for aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government as the country faced civil war.

[68] In October 2002, Boxer voted against the joint resolution passed by the US Congress to authorize the use of military force by the Bush administration against Iraq.

"[72] Boxer was sharply critical of US Army General David Petraeus' testimony regarding the political and military situation of Iraq in 2007, charging him with reporting while wearing "rosy glasses".

"[74] Senator Boxer joined colleagues to pass a federal ban on various semi-automatic firearms and established the COPS program.

[citation needed] In the wake of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Boxer posted on Facebook that it was an "unspeakable tragedy" and she encouraged others to support "common-sense gun safety laws to protect our communities from these weapons of war.

[78][better source needed] In October 2002, Boxer urged the Bush administration to take specific steps to address the causes of the steep increase in autism cases in California.

[84] She opposed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage in California, and supported the Uniting American Families Act.

[11] On May 28, 1994, Nicole Boxer married Tony Rodham, the younger brother of Hillary Clinton, in a ceremony at the White House attended by 250 guests.

[105] On July 26, 2021, Boxer was assaulted and robbed of her mobile phone in the Jack London Square section of Oakland, California.