60 Facts About Russ Feingold

Russell Dana Feingold is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011.

Russ Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act during the first vote on the legislation.

In 2010, Russ Feingold lost his campaign for reelection to the US Senate to Republican nominee Ron Johnson.

On May 14,2015, Russ Feingold announced his candidacy for his old Senate seat in 2016.

Russ Feingold was defeated by Johnson in a rematch of their 2010 Senate race.

In 2020, Russ Feingold became president of the American Constitution Society.

Russ Feingold was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family.

Russ Feingold's father, Leon Feingold, was an attorney; his mother, Sylvia Feingold, worked at a title company.

In 1972, Russ Feingold volunteered for the presidential campaign of New York City mayor John Lindsay.

Russ Feingold later supported the presidential campaigns of Mo Udall and Ted Kennedy.

Russ Feingold 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 undergraduate students.

Russ 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.

In 1982, Russ Feingold was elected to the Wisconsin Senate, where he served for ten years until his election to the United States Senate.

Russ 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.

Russ Feingold painted five promises on his garage door, calling it a contract with Wisconsin voters.

Russ Feingold released an advertisement featuring an Elvis Presley impersonator endorsing his candidacy.

Russ Feingold 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.

Russ Feingold won by positioning himself as a quirky underdog who offered voters an alternative to what was seen by many as negative campaigning of opponents Jim Moody and Joe Checota.

Russ Feingold placed a cap on his own fundraising, pledging not to raise or spend more than $3.8 million during the campaign, and turning away Democratic Party soft money.

Some Democrats were angry at Russ Feingold for "putting his career at risk" with these self-imposed limits.

In late December 2004, Russ Feingold was appointed to be one of four deputy whips for the Senate Democrats.

On May 14,2015, Russ Feingold announced his candidacy for US Senate against the incumbent, Republican Ron Johnson.

Russ Feingold said the pledge had been made on an election-to-election basis and no longer made sense.

In May 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Russ Feingold and engaged in fundraising for him.

Also in 2001, Russ Feingold voted for the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

On December 21,2004, Russ Feingold wrote an article for the website Salon about a golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama.

Russ Feingold visited the city on March 28,2005, making amends and increasing speculation about his presidential plans for 2008.

Russ Feingold co-sponsored a number of failed bills calling for the abolition of the death penalty.

In 2009, Russ Feingold voted against confirmation of Timothy Geithner to be United States Secretary of the Treasury, citing Geithner's personal tax issues.

Also in 2009, Russ Feingold announced that he was planning to introduce a constitutional amendment that would prohibit governors from making temporary Senate appointments instead of holding special elections.

Russ Feingold cosponsored the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which was signed into law in October 2009.

Russ Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act when it was first introduced in 2001, saying that its provisions infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.

Russ Feingold called other Democrats "timid" for refusing to take action sooner, and suggested December 31,2006, as the date for total withdrawal of troops.

On March 14,2006, Russ Feingold introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure President Bush.

Russ Feingold made a 25-minute speech on the Senate floor, declaring that Congress must "hold the president accountable for his actions".

Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont expressed support for the bill, but Russ Feingold was able to find only three co-sponsors.

Russ Feingold again called for Bush's censure in July 2007 for his management of the Iraq war, accusing him of mounting an "assault" against the United States Constitution.

On July 24,2006, at a press conference at the Martin Luther King Heritage Health Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Russ Feingold announced that he had authored the State-Based Health Care Reform Act, a bill to create a pilot program for a system of universal healthcare under which each US state would create a program to provide its citizenry with universal health insurance and the federal government would provide the funding.

Russ Feingold voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that passed the Senate on December 24,2009.

Russ Feingold has voted in favor of certain gun-control legislation while voting to expand certain gun rights.

Russ Feingold signed the congressional amicus brief in District of Columbia v Heller, the US Supreme Court case that overturned a handgun ban in Washington, DC.

Russ Feingold has voted in favor of bills to require background checks for handgun buyers, to require background checks for firearms purchases at gun shows, and to require that handguns be sold with trigger locks.

Russ Feingold supported President Barack Obama's 2016 executive orders to expand background checks and strengthen enforcement of existing gun laws.

In 1996, Russ Feingold was in a minority of legislators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law.

On May 18,2006, Russ Feingold walked out of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly before a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Russ Feingold objected to both the amendment and decision of Chairman Arlen Specter to move the meeting to an area of the Capitol Building not open to the public.

In late January 2005, Russ Feingold told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida that he intended to travel around the country before deciding whether or not to run in 2008.

On June 1,2005, Russ Feingold launched a political action committee, the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Russ Feingold supported John Roberts's Supreme Court nomination in September 2005, and was one of three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of sending the nomination to the floor for a final vote.

Russ Feingold graduated from Harvard Law School the same year as Roberts, 1979.

In February 2012, it was announced that Russ Feingold would be a co-chair of Obama's reelection campaign.

On June 18,2013, Russ Feingold was appointed United States Special Representative for the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo by United States Secretary of State John Kerry.

Russ Feingold announced his departure from the position on February 24,2015.

In November 2019, Russ Feingold became a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

In February 2020, Russ Feingold was named president of the American Constitution Society.

Russ Feingold is a member of Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where his sister, Dena Feingold, is rabbi.

Russ Feingold was married to Sue Levine from 1977 until 1986.

Russ Feingold married Mary Speerschneider in 1991; in 2005, the couple announced they would divorce.

In 2013, Russ Feingold married Dr Christine Ferdinand, a fellow at Magdalen College at Oxford University in England.

In 2011, Russ Feingold received a Freedom Medal from the Roosevelt Institute.