Feingold announces candidacy for his former Senate seat

Marcy Oster

(JTA) — Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold announced he will run for his former Senate seat in 2016.

The former three-term Democratic senator, who is Jewish, made the announcement Thursday in a videotaped statement posted on social media.

The race would pit him against current Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who defeated Feingold in 2010 with the backing of the Tea Party movement.

Feingold, 62, served three terms in the Senate between 1993 and 2011. Most recently, from July 2013 until March 2015, Feingold served as the State Department’s special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa.