Condoleezza Rice, who served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush, is not interested in running for the U.S. Senate following Barbara Boxer's announcement that she will retire in 2016.
Boxer, a California Democrat, has represented the state in the Senate since 1993.
She served in the U.S. House for 10 years before that.
Rice's chief of staff Georgia Godfrey told
The Hill she has no plans to seek Boxer's seat.
"It's not even a consideration," Godfrey said. "She's happy here at Stanford!"
When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, Rice returned to Stanford University as a political science professor. She's also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
The 74-year-old
Boxer announced her retirement plans in a video filmed with her grandson on Thursday.
Rice's name was immediately thrown around by Republicans following Boxer's announcement, but Godfrey quickly squashed any rumors of a Rice senatorial run.
The Hill also reported that Rep. Darrell Issa, another California Republican, will not seek Boxer's seat, either.
Despite being out of politics since 2009,
Rice has periodically been seen as a potential candidate for a number of posts. And the outside interest for her to have another position of leadership isn't limited to Washington; there were calls last fall for her to become the next commissioner of the NFL.
Boxer's announcement caught House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi off guard,
reported the Hill.
"What? That's funny," Pelosi told reporters when asked about Boxer's news. "She called me, said she wanted to talk personally. I thought she maybe wanted to have dinner tonight or something."
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