Former Sen. Russ Feingold said Thursday he’ll try to win back the Wisconsin seat he lost in 2010 to GOP Sen. Ron Johnson in what liberal groups have already circled as a marquee 2016 matchup.
Mr. Feingold, who was the lone senator to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, and whose name is closely associated with the campaign finance restrictions that the Supreme Court has since largely invalidated, said in his announcement video that his campaign will be about fixing broken politics.
“No one I’ve listened to says we should throw in the towel and give up — and I don’t think that either. Instead, let’s fight together for change,” he said.
Mr. Feingold held the seat from 1993 to 2011 and served as a special envoy in the State Department from 2013 until February of this year.
Democrats had hoped he would run again, and his announcement quickly earned endorsements from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the liberal group Democracy for America, as well as words of support from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC).
Republicans immediately blasted Mr. Feingold as a “desperate career politician.”
“Wisconsin families rejected Feingold’s broken promises and his liberal record once and they are going to do it again,” said Andrea Bozek, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the political forecasting newsletter “Sabato’s Crystal Ball,” said Mr. Feingold gives Senate Democrats a very good chance — and possibly the best on the map — to pick up a GOP-held Senate seat in 2016.
There are 24 Republican-held U.S. Senate seats up in 2016, compared to just 10 that Democrats will have to defend, and all but two of the ones Democrats are defending — the seats held by Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada — are in reliably blue states.
Mr. Johnson, a businessman with no elected political experience, defeated Mr. Feingold 52 percent to 47 percent in 2010, amid a strong tea party-infused year for the GOP. He is now chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Mr. Feingold is the latest top-level recruit Senate Democrats have netted for 2016. The DSCC is also supporting former Gov. Ted Strickland in the Senate race against Republican Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio, Rep. Patrick Murphy in Florida’s Senate race, and Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
Mr. Blunt, Mr. Portman and Mr. Johnson were all first-term products of that 2010 GOP surge, as are Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
“To me, [Johnson] is clearly in worse shape than a Mark Kirk or a Pat Toomey,” Mr. Kondik said.
One issue, though, that could present Mr. Feingold with more of a challenge this time around is the dramatically different campaign finance landscape he faces compared to 2010, when he tried to refuse outside money in his unsuccessful re-election bid and when candidates were still grappling with the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.
In 2012, Mr. Feingold criticized President Obama for embracing Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting Mr. Obama’s re-election bid. Many Democrats who routinely decry the level of money in politics still say they can’t “unilaterally disarm” in the outside money race, but a reversal by Mr. Feingold this time around could be particularly difficult to swallow for his liberal fans.
“Ultimately, [you’ve] got to play on the playing field that’s been provided to you,” Mr. Kondik said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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