Barbara Levy Boxer (born November 11, 1940) is an American Democratic politician and the current junior U.S. Senator from the State of California. She holds the record for the most popular votes in a statewide contested election in California, having received 6,955,728 votes in her 2004 re-election over former Republican Secretary of State Bill Jones.

Boxer was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, becoming one of the first of two female Jewish senators, along with Dianne Feinstein. She is generally classified as liberal.

With the convening of the 110th Congress, Boxer became the first female chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and, following the resignation of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) from the post, she was also chosen as chairman of the Select Committee on Ethics. This made her the only senator to preside over two committees at the same time.