Feingold, Russell Dana (1953-…), served in the United States Senate from 1993 to 2011. Feingold, a Democrat, represented Wisconsin.
Feingold was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on March 2, 1953. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1975. As a Rhodes scholar, he received a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in 1977. Feingold earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979. He practiced law in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1979 to 1985.
From 1983 to 1993, Feingold served in the Wisconsin state Senate. He was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate in 1992 and took office in 1993. He was reelected in 1998 and 2004. Feingold became known for his work with Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, to limit the amount of money spent on political campaigns. In 2002, Congress approved a version of Feingold and McCain’s campaign-spending bill. Feingold also served as chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Africa. In 2010, Feingold lost a bid for reelection to Republican businessman Ron Johnson.
From 2013 to 2015, Feingold served as a U.S. Department of State special envoy to the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa. In 2015, Feingold began a campaign to regain the Senate seat he lost to Ron Johnson in 2010. Johnson defeated Feingold again in 2016.
