PARIS: I mean, come on, Senator Boxer, as one of our foremost Democratic leaders …
Paris is speaking to Barbara Boxer (born Barbara Levy in 1940), politician and lobbyist who served in the US Senate, representing California (where Gilmore Girls was filmed) from 1993 to 2017, as a member of the Democratic Party. She was known for having one of the most progressive voting records in Congress. Her daughter Nicole married Tony Rodham, the younger brother of Hillary Clinton in 1994, at the first White House wedding since 1971.
At 4 foot 11 inches in height, Barbara Boxer was one of the shortest members of Congress, sometimes standing on a portable platform to address the chamber – this became known as the “Boxer Box”.
Barbara Boxer portrays herself in this episode. She had previously played herself in cameo roles on Murphy Brown in 1994, and in the film Traffic in 2000. She went on to do so again in Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2007.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 