Sen. Barbara Boxer's departure has unleashed a floodgate of ambitious pols
California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is retiring at the end of her term. On Thursday many, many names were mentioned as possible successors, and a few potential candidates took their names out of the running. Over the last few months
Politico,
Roll Call, and the
San Francisco Chronicle have all taken a look at who could succeed Boxer. On Thursday we also got more potential names from
MSNBC, the
Sacramento Bee,
The Hill, and the
Washington Post. Here is a look at which Democrats have been named, along with any other pertinent information about their intentions:
• Rep. Karen Bass
• Rep. Xavier Becerra
• Treasurer John Chiang
• Rep. John Garamendi
• Attorney General Kamala Harris
• Former Rep. Jane Harman
• Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson- office answered "no comment" when asked about his plans
• Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones
• San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo
• Former Treasurer Bill Lockyer
• Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom
• Secretary of State Alex Padilla
• Rep. Raul Ruiz
• Rep. Loretta Sanchez- did not rue out a run on Thursday
• Rep. Adam Schiff
• Los Angeles County Supervisor and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
• Rep. Jackie Speier
• Former state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
• Billionaire Tom Steyer- sources close to him say he's interested
• Former Rep. Ellen Tauscher
• Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa- sources close to him say he's "seriously considering"
• Former Controller Steve Westly
• Controller Betty Yee
We also have some Democrats who took their name out of consideration on Thursday:
• State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon
• Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
• Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg
It won't be easy for Republicans to pick up this seat, though Democrats need to take the possibility of two Republicans making in to the general election seriously. In any case, here are some of Team Red's prospective candidates:
• Former Rep. Mary Bono
• 2014 gubernatorial nominee Neel Kashkari
• Wealthy physicist Charles Munger
• Former Rep. Doug Ose
• Former Insurance Commissioner and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner
• Rep. Ed Royce
• Fresno Mayor and 2014 controller nominee Ashley Swearengin
• HP CEO and 2010 gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman
In the unlikely but not definite no category we have San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and 2010 Senate nominee Carly Fiorina. On Thursday Faulconer tweeted that his focus is on leading San Diego and continuing to write our city's comeback story." That's not an iron clad no, but it doesn't seem like he's going for it, especially since he's up for re-election in 2016. Faulconer's probably the strongest Republican in California, and he'll probably make a run for statewide office before too long in any case. Fiorina is also unlikely to run again since she currently lives in Virginia and is
planning a presidential bid.
In the definite no category for the GOP we have:
• Rep. Darrell Issa
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
• Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
There's a lot of dust left to settle, and it's quite possible new names from each party will jump in. This is going to be a giant and unpredictable race, and we'll be watching each development here at
Daily Kos Elections.
