GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced yesterday 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 Ms. Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.

The California primary could become a reprise of New York's 23rd Congressional District race, where a bitter split between GOP conservatives and moderates opened the way for a Democratic victory Tuesday. Mr. DeVore, 47, who calls himself a Reagan conservative, says the contest with Ms. Fiorina, 55, will test "two visions of the Republican Party."

Ms. Fiorina, speaking to an invited audience in Orange County, a traditional GOP stronghold, described herself yesterday as a Republican devoted to low taxes and tightfisted budgets.

Ms. Boxer, 68, is no beloved figure in California, but she easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.