Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served from 1993 to 2011 as a United States senator from Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Wisconsin's 27th Senate district from 1983 to 1993 and was the U.S. Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2013 to 2015.
In the Senate, Feingold was known for being the only U.S. senator to vote against the Patriot Act following the September 11 attacks. His signature legislative achievement was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which he co-authored with Republican senator John McCain. Feingold and McCain received the 1999 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for their efforts. The law, commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act, sought to limit the influence of money in federal elections, though key provisions were later weakened by court decisions, culminating in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC.
Feingold was first elected to the Senate in 1992, defeating incumbent Bob Kasten, and was reelected in 1998 and 2004. He was mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination but did not run. After losing reelection in 2010 to Ron Johnson, he founded the political action committee Progressives United, which funded progressive candidates in the 2012 elections, before being appointed U.S. Special Envoy by President Barack Obama in 2013.
Feingold unsuccessfully sought his former Senate seat in a 2016 rematch against Johnson. He served as president of the American Constitution Society from 2020 to 2025 and chairs the Campaign for Nature's Global Steering Committee.
Early life, education, and career Feingold was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family. His grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Galicia.U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, Wisconsin, Rock County, Janesville, enumeration district 112, p. 22-B, family 556. U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, Tennessee, Shelby County, Memphis, enumeration district 109, p. 2-A, family 29. Rachel Binstock entry; SS Nieuw Amsterdam Passenger Manifest, 17 February 1913, p. 932, line 8. His father, Leon Feingold, was an attorney; his mother, Sylvia Feingold (née Binstock), worked at a title company. Feingold was one of four children. His father and his elder brother David, a Vietnam War conscientious objector, were the major influences on his political development as a youth. As a boy he was also involved with the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization and Aleph Zadik Aleph. He graduated from Janesville's Joseph A. Craig High School in 1971, and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
While in college, Feingold volunteered for New York City mayor John Lindsay in his campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. In the 1976 primaries, he supported Arizona U.S. representative Mo Udall, and later U.S. senator Ted Kennedy.
Feingold graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1975 with a bachelor's degree with honors in political science. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was inducted into the Iron Shield Society, which is considered the highest honor achievable by University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduates. Feingold then went to Magdalen College at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he graduated in 1977 with a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts in jurisprudence. Upon returning to the U.S., he attended Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D. with honors in 1979.How Rhodes Scholars Think; Ben Eastaugh and Chris Sternal-Johnson; 2009
During these years, Feingold moved to Middleton, Wisconsin, which became his primary residence for his entire political career. He worked as an attorney at the private law firms of Foley & Lardner and La Follette & Sinykin from 1979 to 1985.
In 1982, Feingold was elected to the Wisconsin Senate, where he served for 10 years until his election to the United States Senate. He was succeeded in the state senate by Joe Wineke.
U.S. Senate (1993-2011)
Elections
1992
Feingold's U.S. Senate career began in 1992 with a victory over Republican incumbent Senator Bob Kasten. Feingold had little name recognition in the state and was campaigning in a primary against Congressman Jim Moody and businessman Joe Checota, but adopted several proposals to gain the electorate's attention. He painted five promises on his garage door, calling it a contract with Wisconsin voters. Among the promises was a pledge to rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of his contributions and a pledge to hold a "listening session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year he was in office.
Feingold released an advertisement featuring an Elvis Presley impersonator endorsing his candidacy. Kasten responded to the ad with one of his own featuring another Elvis impersonator attacking Feingold's record.
During the primary campaign, Feingold unveiled an 82-point plan that aimed to eliminate the deficit by the end of his first term. The plan called for a raise in taxes and cuts in the defense budget, among other things, and was derided as "extremist" by Republicans and "too liberal" by his Democratic opponents. Feingold also announced his support for strict campaign finance reform and a national health care system and voiced his opposition to term limits and new tax cuts.
Feingold won by positioning himself as a quirky underdog who offered voters an alternative to what was seen by many as negative campaigning by opponents Jim Moody and Joe Checota. After polling in the single digits for much of the campaign, Feingold won the primary with 70% of the vote. Seven weeks later, while Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ross Perot split the Wisconsin presidential vote 41%–37%–21%, Feingold beat Kasten, 53% to 46%.
1998
During his 1998 reelection campaign, Feingold was outspent by his Republican opponent, Representative Mark Neumann, and targeted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Feingold capped his own fundraising, pledging not to raise or spend more than $3.8 million (one dollar for every citizen of Wisconsin) during the campaign, and turning away Democratic Party soft money. He requested that several lobby groups, including the AFL–CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, refrain from airing pro-Feingold "issue ads". Some Democrats were angry at Feingold for "putting his career at risk" with these self-imposed limits. Neumann also limited himself to $3.8 million in spending, but allowed outside groups to use soft money in his favor. A strong showing in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison allowed Feingold to win the election by about two percentage points.
2004
In the 2004 Senate election, Feingold defeated the Republican nominee, businessman Tim Michels, by 11 percentage points (55%-44%), earning a third term. During the campaign, Feingold refrained from imposing spending caps on himself as he had in the past, and raised and spent almost $11 million. He spent nearly $3.7 million, or about 67%, more than his opponent. PolitiFact.com rated Feingold's frequent assertion that he had been outspent by opponents in every U.S. Senate election "pants on fire."
In late December 2004, Feingold was appointed to be one of four deputy whips for the Senate Democrats.
2010
Feingold was defeated for reelection on November 2, 2010, by Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson, 52% to 47%.
2016
On May 14, 2015, Feingold announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate against the incumbent, Republican Ron Johnson.
In his 2016 campaign, Feingold said he would no longer adhere to his longstanding pledge to raise the majority of his campaign funds from Wisconsin residents. Feingold said the pledge had been made on an election-to-election basis and no longer made sense. As of March 2016, Feingold had raised the most money among all U.S. Senate candidates challenging an incumbent. Nearly three-fourths of his individual contributions were from outside Wisconsin.
Groups financially supporting Feingold's election bid included Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, American Bridge 21st Century, and the National Abortion Rights Action League. In May 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Feingold and engaged in fundraising for him.
In the November 8, 2016, general election, Feingold lost to Johnson with 47% of the vote to Johnson's 51%.
Committee assignments Committee on the Budget Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts Subcommittee on the Constitution (chairman) Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee on African Affairs (chairman) Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy and Human Rights Select Committee on Intelligence
Tenure
During his time in the U.S. Senate, Feingold gained a reputation as a political maverick. When he broke with his party, it was often because he was taking a more liberal or populist position than other Democrats. Throughout his congressional tenure, several ranking systems placed Feingold among the nation's most liberal or progressive senators.
During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Feingold was the only Democratic senator to vote against a motion to dismiss Congress's impeachment case. Feingold ultimately voted against conviction on all charges.
Feingold opposed NAFTA and numerous other free trade agreements.
In 1999, Feingold and U.S. Senator John McCain, who later co-authored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, received the JFK Foundation's Profile in Courage Award in recognition of their efforts in pushing for campaign finance reform in the Senate.
In 2001, Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act (H.R. 3162). Also in 2001, he voted to confirm John Ashcroft as United States Attorney General.
In 2002, Feingold was one of nine senators to vote against creating the Department of Homeland Security.148 Cong. Rec. S11462 (daily ed. Nov. 19, 2002).
On December 21, 2004, Feingold wrote an article for Salon about a golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama. In it, after noting how friendly the people there were and that Wisconsin had many similar places, he expressed his sorrow that such a poverty-stricken area was "the reddest spot on the whole map" despite Republican policies that Feingold considered destructive to the well-being of the poor and middle class. Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon, both Republicans, were perturbed by Feingold's description of "check-cashing stores and abject trailer parks, and some of the hardest-used cars for sale on a very rundown lot." McLendon invited Feingold back for a more complete tour of the city, and Feingold agreed. He visited the city on March 28, 2005, making amends and increasing speculation about his presidential plans for 2008.
In May 2006, Feingold voted in favor of bill S.2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, an immigration reform bill designed to give most illegal immigrants a chance to become legal citizens.
Feingold co-sponsored a number of failed bills calling for the abolition of the death penalty.
In 2009, Feingold voted against confirmation of Timothy Geithner to be United States Secretary of the Treasury, citing Geithner's personal tax issues. Also in 2009, Feingold announced his intention to introduce a constitutional amendment prohibiting governors from making temporary Senate appointments instead of holding special elections.
Feingold cosponsored the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which was signed into law in 2009.
Campaign finance reform