A Middleton businessman filed for candidacy as a Republican in the 2010 U.S. Senate race against incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Terrence Wall, a University of Wisconsin alum and head of the office-building development agency T. Wall Properties, said his campaign is in the very preliminary stages, having only filed the papers a few days ago. He added he is still working on building a campaign team.

According to a statement released Saturday, Wall said he feels he can help get the U.S. back on track from its current slump.

“I look forward to building the infrastructure and team over the next few months as we prepare for a campaign start in the spring, and I challenge my opponent to run a clean campaign and one well grounded in an honest debate of the issues rather than personal attacks,” Wall said.

Along with T. Wall Properties, Wall also started the DaneVest Tech Fund, which is an investment capital fund that specializes in helping state-based technology start-up companies to prosper and stay in Wisconsin.

Wall also began the nonprofit Wisconsin Foundation, which specializes in philanthropy and acts as a consultant to other nonprofit organizations by helping them to be more cost effective in their campaigns, the statement said.

David Westlake, a small businessman from Watertown, is another Republican who declared his candidacy for the Senate seat in June.

According to a statement released Friday by Feingold Senate Committee spokesperson Trevor Miller, the Feingold campaign is not daunted by the emergence of Westlake and Wall as opponents.

“There may well be other candidates, but both Mr. Westlake and Mr. Wall are obviously hard right ideologues lacking political independence,” Miller said in a statement. “In any event, we continue to build a strong organization that will wage a vigorous campaign in every one of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.”

Feingold, who is also a UW alum, has been serving as Wisconsin’s junior U.S. Senator since 1993.