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Russ Feingold says he wants to reclaim his U.S. Senate seat so he can continue his “fiscally progressive” agenda, even if that means working with moderate Republicans and not getting a “perfect” deal every time.

He said he was inspired to run out of “extreme concern” for the country.

“I’m very worried about the attack of the tea party people and the far right on the Senate and Congress,” said the former Democratic senator Wednesday, during an editorial board meeting at the Kenosha News. “If there ever was a time that I thought I’d better step up to the plate, this seemed to be the one.”

Feingold lost his re-election race to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, an Oshkosh-based businessman, during the 2010 tea party wave. He spent the last six years touring Wisconsin, serving as a U.S. special envoy for the African Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and honing his policy positions.

Among his priorities: making college more affordable, increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, tackling climate change, comprehensive immigration reform with a path toward citizenship and expanding the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.