California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer to retire

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, one of the chamber's most tenacious liberals, announced Thursday she will not seek re-election in 2016 to a fifth term.<br /> <br /> A staunch supporter of abortion rights, gun control and environmental protections, Boxer has said she is most proud of the vote that she cast against the war in Iraq.<br /> <br /> Boxer's retirement will set off a free-for-all among California Democrats, who have been ascendant in the state for decades with few offices to aspire to while Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein have had a lock on the state's U.S. Senate seats.<br /> <br /> The 74-year-old Boxer made the announcement in an unusual video in which she answered questions posed by her grandson,<br /> <br /> . "I am never going to retire. The work is too important. But I will not be running for the Senate in 2016," Boxer said.<br /> <br /> Boxer said her age was not a factor in her decision, nor was infighting in the Senate. "I feel as young as I did when I got elected," Boxer said.<br /> <br /> She closed with a poem. "So although I won't be working in my Senate space and I won't be running in that next tough race, as long as there are issues and challenges and strife, I will never retire because that's the meaning of my life."<br /> <br /> Boxer was first elected to the House in 1982 and to the Senate one decade later. It was an election that marked a watershed year for women in politics, with four winning U.S. Senate seats. Boxer prominently displays in her office a photograph of her and six other female members of the House marching up the steps leading to the Senate, where they demanded that senators hold hearings on Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before holding his confirmation vote