Russell D. Feingold represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1993 to 2011, serving on the Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Budget, and Intelligence Committees. He has since taught at Stanford University, Marquette University, and Lawrence University, served as United States Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the State Department, and founded the group Progressives United. He is currently the Harman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Prior to serving in the U.S. Senate, Feingold was a Wisconsin State Senator from 1983 to 1993 and practiced law for six years at Foley & Lardner and LaFollette & Sinykin in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.