Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold
Feingold in 2015
United States Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Congo-Kinshasa
In office
July 18, 2013 – March 6, 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byBarrie Walkley
Succeeded byTom Perriello
United States Senator
from Wisconsin
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2011
Preceded byBob Kasten
Succeeded byRon Johnson
Member of the Wisconsin Senate
from the 27th district
In office
January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993
Preceded byEverett Bidwell
Succeeded byJoseph Wineke
Personal details
Born
Russell Dana Feingold

(1953-03-02) March 2, 1953 (age 71)
Janesville, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Sue Levine
(m. 1977; div. 1986)
Mary Speerschneider
(m. 1991; div. 2005)
Christine Ferdinand
(m. 2013)
Children2
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison (BA)
Magdalen College, Oxford (BA)
Harvard University (JD)
Signature

Russell Dana Feingold (/ˈfnɡld/ FYNE-gold; born March 2, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S. Senate seat he had previously occupied.[1] From 1983 to 1993, he was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.[2]

With John McCain, Feingold received the 1999 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.[3] He and McCain cosponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain–Feingold Act), a major piece of campaign finance reform legislation. He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act of 2001.

Feingold was mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2008 presidential election, but in November 2006 announced he would not run.[4] In 2010, Feingold lost his campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate to Republican nominee Ron Johnson.[5][6] On June 18, 2013, he was selected by Secretary of State John Kerry to replace R. Barrie Walkley as a special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa.[7]

On May 14, 2015, Feingold announced his candidacy for his old Senate seat in 2016.[1] He was defeated by Johnson in a rematch of their 2010 Senate race.[8] In 2020, Feingold became president of the American Constitution Society.

  1. ^ a b Robillard, Kevin (May 14, 2015). "Feingold running for Wisconsin Senate". Politico. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  2. ^ Nelson, James (February 4, 2016). "Sen. Ron Johnson claims Russ Feingold is a career politician". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. PolitiFact. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Feingold wins JFK Profile in Courage award". Milwaukee Business Journal. May 24, 1999. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Feingold rules out 2008 run for president". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. November 11, 2006. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  5. ^ Pelofsky, Jeremy (November 3, 2010). "Wisconsin's Feingold loses Senate re-election bid, NBC projects". Reuters. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  6. ^ Katz, Neil (November 3, 2010). "Feingold Falls in Wisconsin, CBS News Projects". CBS News. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  7. ^ Lee Myers, Steven (June 18, 2013). "Ex-Senator Feingold Chosen as Special Envoy to African Region". The New York Times. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  8. ^ Sommerhauser, Mark; Verburg, Steven (November 9, 2016). "Ron Johnson defeats Russ Feingold in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.