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RACINE — Russ Feingold rallied supporters during a campaign stop Monday at UAW Local 180 headquarters, calling for fellow Democrats to return him to the U.S. Senate.

Feingold, who held the seat prior to Ron Johnson from 1993-2010, got an enthusiastic welcome from the largely union, blue-collar crowd, many of them retirees, when he joined them for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign canvass kickoff.

He thanked campaign volunteers and urged them to not let up.

“We started this campaign really early, and you were packin’ ’em in then. ... You have taken it right to the end, and I want to thank you for that,” Feingold said to cheers and applause.

Plugging Hillary Clinton as “the most qualified person to be president, who basically has ever run,” he slammed Johnson and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He called for “making sure Donald Trump never gets near the Oval Office.”

“What a ridiculous sideshow. But it’s scary. I mean, it’s not like ‘The Apprentice.’ This is actually reality,” Feingold said. “And you’ve got to understand ... your senior senator (Johnson) is voting for him.”