GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday that she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO’s entry into the race could present California’s junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first must survive a Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.
Fiorina, 55, described herself Wednesday as a Republican devoted to low taxes and tightfisted budgets and “a political newcomer who actually knows how to get something done.”
“What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?” Fiorina told an audience in Orange County. Fiorina vowed not to support higher taxes until Congress learns to spend responsibly.
California Democratic Party chairman John Burton called Fiorina a “failed CEO.” Hew lett-Packard’s board fired Fiorina in 2005 after she pushed through the company’s acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that cost jobs and reduced HP’s value.
