U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, one of the Senate's most forceful liberal voices, will not seek re-election in 2016, making her the first of three top Democratic state officials over age 70 to announce plans to leave office.
It is not yet clear which of several ambitious younger Democratic politicians will make a bid for the seat Boxer will leave after more than three decades in the U.S. Congress. Other top California offices should open up in a few years. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 81, and newly re-elected Gov. Jerry Brown, 76, are serving terms that end in 2018.
"The Senate is the place where I've always made my case, for families, for the planet and the human race," Boxer, 74, said in a rhymed announcement in a video posted on her campaign website Thursday.