What is Dave O'Neal?
[[File:Dave O’Neal.jpg|thumb|O'Neal in 1977]] '''David C. O’Neal''' (January 24, 1937 &ndash; July 10, 2021) was an American politician and businessman. He was born in [[Belleville, Illinois]]. O'Neal was the 41st [[Lieutenant Governor of Illinois]], serving from 1977 to 1981 alongside [[Governor of Illinois]] [[James R. Thompson]]. For six years he served as [[St. Clair County, Illinois|Saint Clair County]] Sheriff. He was the first [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to hold that office in twenty years.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Secter | first = Bob | title = Job may be boring, but history of Illinois lieutenant governor is anything but | newspaper = Illinois Senate Press | date = February 4, 2010 | url = http://press.senaterepublicancaucus.com/news/full_article/112284 | access-date = <!-- February 25, 2010 --> }}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1980, O’Neal sought the Republican nomination for the [[United States Senate]] winning the nomination to go on to the general election. His [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] opponent was Illinois Secretary of State [[Alan J. Dixon]]. He lost the election to Dixon.<ref>Illinois Blue Book, 1979–1980&nbsp;– [[Secretary of State of Illinois]]&nbsp;– Official Vote Totals, Illinois General Election of November 4, 1980</ref> O’Neal resigned as Lieutenant Governor in 1981. O'Neal died on July 10, 2021 in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] at the age of 84.<ref>[https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article252952288.html Former St. Clair County sheriff, Illinois lieutenant governor dies at age 84]</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} {{US-bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneal, Dave}} [[Category:1937 births]] [[Category:2021 deaths]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Illinois]] [[Category:Politicians from Illinois]] [[Category:Lieutenant Governors of Illinois]] [[Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians]] [[Category:People from Belleville, Illinois]]