| Russ Feingold | |
|---|---|
| |
| Senate Minority Whip | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Gillmore |
| Senate Majority Whip | |
| In office January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Dick Durbin |
| Succeeded by | John Thune |
| U.S Senator from Wisconsin | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Kasten |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 's 27th district | |
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Everett Bidwell |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Wineke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Russell Dana Feingold March 2, 1953 Janesville, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Sue Levine (m. 1977; div. 1986) Mary Speerschneider (m. 1991; div. 2005) Christine Ferdinand (m. 2013) |
| Children | 2 |
Russell Dana Feingold is an American politician and lawyer who is currently serving as a United States Senator from Wisconsin since 1993. Prior to his service in the senate, he served as a Wisconsin State Senator from 1983 to 1993. In both 2012 and 2016, Feingold ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Early Life and Career[]
Russ Feingold was born on March 2, 1953 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the son of a Jewish family. Feingold's father was an attorney and his mother worked for a title company. During his teens, he was active in Jewish organizations meant for Jewish teenagers. He first became politically involved when he volunteered for New York mayor John Lindsay's 1972 presidential campaign. Feingold later offered supported the campaigns of Ted Kennedy and Mo Udall.
In 1971, he graduated from Joseph A. Craig High School and enrolled in the University of Wisconsin–Madison, later graduating in 1975. Later, Feingold would go on to attend Magdalen College at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence. He returned to the United States and studied law at Harvard Law School. In 1979, he received a J.D with honors, after which, he worked as an attorney at the law firms of Foley & Lardner and La Follette & Sinykin for 6 years.
Wisconsin State Senate[]
Feingold was first elected to public office in 1982, to the Wisconsin State Senate. He served in this position for 10 years. After nearly a decade in the state senate, he decided to run for the U.S Senate in 1992. He had little name recognition, and relied on adopting unique policies to win the Democratic primary. In the general, he stuck to such a platform, vowing support for campaign finance reform, tax cuts, and a national healthcare system. He would defeat the incumbent Republican Senator Bob Kasten with 53% of the vote compared to Kasten's 46%.
U.S Senator from Wisconsin[]
Elections[]
1998[]
During his 1998 senate reelection campaign, Feingold imposed a limit on his own fundraising and turned away soft money from the Democratic party. His Republican opponent, Mark Neumann, refused to limit his fundraising and allowed soft money contributions. A few Democrats raised concerns that Feingold was putting his career in danger with such campaign finance limits. Feingold ultimately defeated Neumann, carrying 52.0% of the vote to Neumann's 46.3%.
2004[]
For his next re-election effort, Feingold decided against imposing campaign finance limits as he had before, which allowed him to substantially out raise his Republican opponent, Tim Michels. He would ultimately win a third term with 56% of the vote to Michel's 43%. While on the presidential level John Kerry carried the state with 49.9% of the vote.
2010[]
Russ Feingold congratulating supporters after defeating Tommy Thompson.
Russ Feingold ran for re-election to a fourth term in 2010. He was able to win the Democratic primary unopposed while the apparent front runner, former governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, faced a number of primary challengers, notably businessman Ron Johnson, who campaigned as more conservative candidates than Thompson. Due to the conservative vote being split in the primary four ways, Thompson emerged as the Republican candidate. Feingold tied him to the unpopular McCain administration, while Thompson ran ads to establish independence from John McCain. Thompson held an early narrow lead in May of 2010, but by June, Feingold had pulled ahead with a 3 to 6 point lead. Feingold would win re-election with 51.7% of the vote to Thompson's 46.5%.
2016[]
After not being selected by Tom Daschle for the slot of his running mate, Feingold ran for re-election to a fifth term. He won the Democratic primary unopposed. Scott L Fitzgerald, the incumbent Wisconsin State Senate minority leader, became the Republican challenger to Feingold. Fitzgerald labeled Feingold as a "career politician" after being in the senate for nearly 3 decades. Polling for the race showed Feingold at a clear advantage and Feingold had ouraised Fitzgerald nearly 3 to 1. Predictions from election forecasters put the race as "likely D" or as a "lean D". Feingold would defeat Fitgzerald with 53.3% of the vote compared to Fitzgerald's 45.5%.
2022[]
Feingold stated his intent to run for re-election to a 6th term in the Senate on April 5, 2021, after initial speculation he may retire. The Cook Political Report has rated the race as Lean D, as well as Inside Elections. Sabato's Crystal Ball on the other hand, has rated the race as a tossup. In potential polling taken for the race, Feingold defeated Minority Whip Paul Ryan by 4-2% with a plurality of the vote. Russ Feingold defeated Ryan with 51.7% of the vote to Ryan's 47.2% on election day. His 2022 re-election was the closest in his career, after his 2010 challenge from Tommy Thompson. Feingold's 2022 re-election would make him the longest serving Senator in Wisconsin history by the end of his term in 2029. He stated in 2024 he would not be running for a 7th term and would retire in 2029.
Tenure[]
Feingold First Term Senate Portrait
Campaign Finance Reform[]
In 1994, Feingold worked together with Republican Senator from Arizona, John McCain on a bill that aimed to put a limit to "soft money". The bill was opposed by senators on both sides of the aisle who relied on special interests in the government and argued that the bill was unconstitutional and infringed on free speech. The bill would be filibustered and failed to reach a vote. Eventually in 2002, after seven years, the McCain-Feingold bill was passed through congress. Although Bob Dole had initially vehemently opposed the bill, once it had passed both chambers of congress, he eventually consented and signed into law, arguably becoming one of Feingold's largest accomplishments as Senator.
Bob Dole Administration[]
Feingold had opposed the balanced budget amendment first proposed in 1995 and voted against such an amendment yet again in 1997 when it was pushed by the Dole administration. His votes against a balanced budget amendment were later used in attack ads by opponents in the future. Other than opposing the balanced budget amendment, Feingold voted against Dole's 15% across the board tax cuts, which he viewed were reckless. He criticized Dole's opposition to raising the minimum wage and refusal to offer support to the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act initially until finally signing it into law in 2002.
Healthcare[]
During his tenure, Feingold has supported universal healthcare based on a single-payer model. In 2011, he authored a bill which would have created a pilot program for a system of universal healthcare under which each U.S. state would create a program to provide its citizenry with universal health insurance and the federal government would provide the funding. This bill was a center-piece for his campaign for president in 2012 and 2016.
Feingold voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Prior to his vote in favor of the bill, he stated that he didn't believe the bill had gone far enough in terms of healthcare reform and believed that health insurance companies could still "profit from human suffering" if it were to be passed. He believed some elements had been "watered down" to appease enough Congressional Republicans to vote for it.
Feingold pictured in 2024
Leadership[]
Feingold was appointed to become one of four deputy whips for Senate Democrats. When the Senate majority whip position had been left vacant at the start of the 115th congress, with Dick Durbin becoming the Senate Majority Leader, Feingold ran to fill this position and was subsequently elected. He has served in this position since 2017 and later served as Minority Whip following the 2022 midterms.
2012 Presidential Campaign[]
Feingold was named a potential contender for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Due to a growing progressive demand in the Democratic party, a candidate such as Feingold had become more palatable to many in the party. Upon announcing a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 25, 2011, Feingold appeared to be the favorite among-st progressives. Despite this, he was initially viewed as a long shot by many. He campaigned on a progressive platform, which included implementing universal healthcare, expanding gun control, climate change action, and free trade reform. Feingold was notable for not receiving most of his funding for his campaign from a super PAC. instead receiving largely from individual donations. His campaign repeatedly brought up his figure of his average campaign donation being 24 dollars, emphasizing his grassroots image.
Feingold received multiple notable endorsements, including from former DNC chairman and Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders, and Democratic candidate for the 2008 nomination, Mike Gravel.
The main divisions in the Democratic party coming into the 2012 primaries was between the more moderate and centrist wing of the party, and the more populist progressive wing of the party. While the primary field was wide open initially, eventually Joe Biden emerged as the main centrist contender in the race. Likewise, Feingold emerged as the sole insurgent progressive challenger. Biden led by relatively comfortable margin over the course of 2011, holding a lead of 12 points over Feingold, with Senator from New York, Andrew Coumo, and Senator from Missouri, Jay Nixon, running behind both of the men in the single digits. Feingold experienced a resurgence just a few weeks before the Iowa primary.
Russ Feingold during the night of his Iowa primary victory.
In an upset win, Feingold won the Iowa caucus by 4 points over Biden. Jay Nixon would drop out of the race after his poor showing in Iowa. While Biden led by a comfortable margin the New Hampshire primary, Feingold eroded his lead in the state over time. Eventually, Biden won the New Hampshire primary by 5 points, helping to recover his campaign. Andrew Cuomo dropped out 1 day after the New Hampshire primary and endorsed Biden.
Not long after, Feingold then went on to win the Nevada caucus. The Democratic establishment began to coalesce around Joe Biden after the Nevada caucus. Jim Clyburn, a major figure in South Carolina politics, endorsed Biden 5 days before the South Carolina primary. This allowed Biden to hail a 26 point victory over Feingold. On Super Tuesday, Feingold carried both Minnesota and Colorado while Biden swept key primaries in Texas and California. Biden had amassed a wide lead in delegates by mid March. Feingold won the primary in his home state of Wisconsin, as well as winning contests in the west. He focused on victories in the Illinois and Florida primaries. In Florida, Feingold, a Jew, focused on the Jewish vote, which he hoped would carry him to victory in the state. Biden would ultimately win the Florida primary with 54% of the vote.
In Illinois, Biden won the primary with 52% of the vote compared to Feingold's 47%. After the results of the Illinois primary, Feingold dropped out on April 6 and endorsed Biden. Feingold was among those considered to be chosen by Joe Biden to be his running mate. Others on Biden's shortlist for Vice President included Kathleen Sebelius, Evan Bayh, Jack Reed, Andrew Cuomo, and Barack Obama. Biden ultimately chose Sebelius to be his running mate. Despite her selection being of importance, with Sebelius becoming the second woman chosen to be on a major party's presidential ticket, the selection of Sebelius did not excite progressives nor most of the Democratic base.
Feingold was given a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention due to the Democratic Party's recognition of the need to reconcile with his supporters. Feingold had influenced the Democratic party platform in terms of criminal justice reform, raising the minimum wage, and healthcare reform. On October 17, it was discovered after the convention that the DNC's chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the party's committee had bias against the Feingold campaign. Leaked emails had shown Schultz had mocked Feingold during the primaries. Schultz resigned as the DNC chair soon after. While a few accusations were made against the McCain campaign who were accused of attempting to split the Democratic Party before the election, these were not taken seriously. It is believed that the leak of these emails so close to the election had gotten enough Feingold supporters to stay home on election day and not vote for Joe Biden, contributing to John McCain's re-election victory.
2016 Presidential Campaign[]
Feingold at a campaign event in Denver, Colorado.
In hypothetical polling for a Democratic primary match up, Feingold was often in either second or third place, behind or ahead of Vincent Sheheen. Due to his position in such polling and name recognition, he was widely expected to run once again in 2016. On February 15, 2015, he announced his run for president. In his campaign announcement he vowed to bring "a progressive vision to fruition".
Russ Feingold visiting a community in Flint, Michigan.
Early polling showed him among the top three candidates, Governor of South Carolina Vincent Sheheen and Senator from South Dakota, Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle was well funded and connected, however he struggled during the early primaries. Sheheen would win in Iowa, while Feingold finished narrowly behind Daschle in third place. Daschle would eke out a victory in New Hampshire, with Feingold finishing in second place. Daschle would go on to win a narrow victory in Nevada, where Feingold had also scored second place and narrowly ran behind Daschle. During the South Carolina primary, Sheheen would win by 10 points, giving him a boost in both donors and support. Feingold's performance in South Carolina was underwhelming, finishing a distant third place behind Tom Daschle.
Due to his poor showings in the early primaries, Feingold focused his next campaign efforts on winning primary contests on Super Tuesday. On Super Tuesday, he carried the primary contests of Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont, an underwhelming performance which placed him in a distant third place in terms of delegates, his path to victory severed. Two days following the Super Tuesday contests, he dropped out of the race. The suspension of his campaign came after failing to expand his base past his 2012 campaign, which saw him come up short against Joe Biden for the 2012 Democratic nomination. Feingold kept his name on the ballot in the remaining states and continued to accumulate delegates with the goal of influencing the Democratic Party's platform. He came within 1 percentage point of winning his home state of Wisconsin. He also notably won all 5 of the contests in the territories after successfully arguing that Sheheen and Daschle had not registered themselves in time in the territories. Feingold was once again given a speaking slot at the convention.