Russell Dana Feingold (/ˈfaɪnɡoʊld/ FYNE-gold; born March 2, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011.

[5][6] On June 18, 2013, he was selected by Secretary of State John Kerry to replace R. Barrie Walkley as a special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Feingold's father and his older brother David, a Vietnam War conscientious objector, were the major influences on his political development as a youth.

[12] 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.

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.

[20] His Republican opponent, Bob Kasten, responded to the ad with one of his own featuring another Elvis impersonator attacking Feingold's record.

[22] 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.

[23] 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.

[23] 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%.

[25] Feingold placed a cap on 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.

[26] He requested that several lobby groups, including the AFL–CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, refrain from airing pro-Feingold "issue ads".

[26] A strong showing in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison allowed Feingold to win the election by about two percentage points.

[28] In the 2004 Senate election, Feingold defeated the Republican candidate, businessman Tim Michels, by 11 percentage points (55%-44%), earning a third term.

[45] After noting how friendly the people 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 at 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."

[50] Also in 2009, 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.

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

[61] When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of senators – including Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin and John Sununu – to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions.

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

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

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.

The bill would create a nonpartisan "Health Care Reform Task Force," which would provide five-year federal grants to two or three states.

[76] He supported President Barack Obama's 2016 executive orders to expand background checks and strengthen enforcement of existing gun laws.

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

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

Feingold objected to both the amendment and decision of Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA at the time) to move the meeting to an area of the Capitol Building not open to the public.

[80] In late January 2005, 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.

[citation needed] He wrote a book titled While America Sleeps: A Wake-Up Call to the Post-9/11 World, and supported Obama's reelection in 2012.

The PAC has helped raise money for more than 50 progressive candidates, including the largest beneficiary, then-candidate Elizabeth Warren, who successfully defeated incumbent Scott Brown in 2012.