Russ Feingold Is Running For Senate Again
Former Senator Russ Feingold announced today that he is seeking to return to the Senate with a rematch against the man who beat him in the Repubican wave election in 2010:
Democrat Russ Feingold announced Thursday morning his long-expected bid to win back his US Senate seat from Ron Johnson, the Republican who defeated him in 2010.
Feingold made the announcement in a short video, saying he wanted to “bring back to the US Senate strong independence, bipartisanship and honesty.”
A Johnson-Feingold race would be a rare rematch of Senate opponents.
And it would easily rank as one of the top Senate race in the country in 2016, fiercely contested by both parties.
In a poll taken last month by the Marquette University Law School, Feingold led Johnson 54% to 38%.
Johnson beat Feingold quite handily in 2010, but that was in a midterm election in a year that Republicans were doing very well. In 2016, the two men would meet again in a year where the electorate is likely to be far more favorable to Feingold than it was five years ago. Wisconsin could be an even more interesting state next year if Scott Walker ends up being the Republican nominee for President or is selected as the Vice-Presidential running mate.
Along with Senators such as Mark Kirk, Pat Toomey, and Kelly Ayotte, Johnson was already considered one of the more vulnerable Republicans in next year’s elections. Adding Feingold into the mix increases that vulnerability significantly.
Wisconsin is very interesting indeed. Prominent politicians have run the ideological gamut from Joe McCarthy to Russ Feingold, with William Proxmire, Gaylord Nelson, Scott Walker and Paul Ryan in there too. Political prominence in Wisconsin seems to be a binary proposition.
@al-Ameda: You would be wrong to forget Bob LaFollette at once considered the most dangerous man in America for the belief we should stay out of WWI. Wisconsin the birthplace of the Progressive Party and the GOP. Milwaukee is the only major US city to elect socialist mayors. All that is past though, now we get disgraces like Johnson who has amply proven himself to be one of the most dumb senators in the country. It’s getting bad in Wisconsin when people there have to admit Minnesota looks good.
I read that only 2 other defeated senators since 1956 have come back and been reelected. Slade Gorton was one. Anyone know who was the other?
Ronaldus Iounsannus Delendus Est.
@Neil:
Dan Coats was defeated by Evan Bayh, and was re-elected in…2010? Something like that. But yeah, that’s one.
@Neil Hudelson:
Nope, Coats retired in 1998 and was succeeded by Evan Bayh. Then when Bayh did not run in 2010, Coats ran for his old seat and won it. I read elsewhere that Howard Metzenbaum would be another one who returned to the Senate after a defeat. He was appointed to William Saxby’s seat in 1974, but then lost the Demo primary to John Glenn. Metzenbaum ran for the other seat in 1976 and won.
@al-Ameda:
I find it so interesting that the state has not gone Republican for president since 1984 but in that same time they have elected GOP governors in six out of eight elections. Seven if you count Walker winning the recall. While Republicans control the legislature and have a majority in the US House delegation, the Dems have won most of the US Senate elections. It is a very purple state but it does not look good for Sen Johnson right now.