Russ Feingold

Russell Dana Feingold (born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard Law School, Feingold began his political career in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1983 to 1993 before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 1992. Feingold is noted for his bipartisan collaboration with Republican Senator John McCain on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which prohibited unregulated "soft money" contributions to national political parties and aimed to reduce the influence of large donors in federal elections. He was the sole senator to oppose the USA PATRIOT Act upon its initial passage in October 2001, warning that provisions enabling expanded surveillance and reduced judicial oversight threatened fundamental civil liberties without sufficient safeguards. Feingold voted against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution, joining 22 other senators in rejecting authorization for military action, and consistently advocated for withdrawal timelines amid escalating U.S. involvement. Known for bucking Democratic leadership on select issues, such as supporting a constitutional amendment for balanced budgets early in his career, Feingold lost his 2010 re-election bid to Republican Ron Johnson amid national backlash against Democratic policies including the Affordable Care Act, which he had endorsed. Following his Senate defeat, Feingold served as U.S. Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa from 2013 to 2015, focusing on conflict resolution and democratic governance, and later as president of the American Constitution Society from 2020 to 2025. He mounted an unsuccessful comeback campaign for his former Senate seat in 2016, again falling to Johnson.

Russell Dana Feingold was born on March 2, 1953, in Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin, to Leon Feingold, an attorney born in 1912 who died in 1980, and Sylvia Binstock Feingold, an office worker at a title company born in 1918 who died in 2005. His family was Jewish, with grandparents who were immigrants from Russia and the region of Galicia (now part of Ukraine). The Feingold family had settled in Janesville around 1919, when Feingold's paternal grandfather, Max Feingold, relocated there after being expelled from employment at the Bausch & Lomb optical company in Rochester, New York, seeking proximity to relatives.

Feingold grew up in Janesville, a small manufacturing and farming community, as one of four siblings in what was then one of the few Jewish families in the area. His father, a Democrat in a predominantly Republican city, was active in progressive politics, including membership in the Progressive Party and friendships with other local attorneys involved in similar causes. This environment instilled early influences of independence and civic engagement, with Feingold later recalling his Jewish upbringing in a small Wisconsin town as shaping his worldview, including participation in youth organizations like B'nai B'rith and Aleph Zadik Aleph.

Feingold attended local public schools, graduating from Janesville Craig High School in 1971, where he developed interests in public service amid a family legacy of legal and community involvement. His paternal grandfather Max, a Yiddish-speaking Russian immigrant, owned a hardware store, contributing to the family's rooted presence in Janesville's commercial life.