John Linebaugh Knuppel (August 5, 1923 – November 15, 1986) was an American politician and Democratic member of the Illinois Senate from 1971 until 1981.
In 1970, Knupell served as a delegate to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention.[3] That same year, Knuppel was elected to the Illinois Senate from the 42nd district.[1] Knuppel was reelected in 1972 and 1976 from the 48th district. The 48th district included all or parts of Adams, Brown, Cass, Fulton, Mason, Peoria, and Schuyler counties in West-Central Illinois.[4] In 1977, he supported Thomas Hynes for President of the Illinois Senate.[5] During his tenure, he served on the Illinois Energy Resources Commission.[6]
Knuppel retired from the Illinois Senate in 1980 to run, unsuccessfully, for Congress in Illinois's 18th congressional district against Republican incumbent Robert H. Michel. Knuppel lost to Michel. That same year, Mary Lou Kent, a Republican member of the Illinois House, defeated Democratic candidate George Lewis, a delegate to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention, for Knuppel's state senate seat.[9][10][11] In 1982, Knuppel ran for Congress in Illinois's 20th congressional district losing the Democratic primary to Dick Durbin who would go on to defeat Republican incumbent Paul Findley. Knuppel died November 15, 1986. During the 93rd General Assembly, Vince Demuzio and Lawrence M. Walsh Sr. attempted to rename the Agriculture Building on the State Fairgrounds as the John L. Knuppel Department of Agriculture Building. The resolution did not succeed.[12]
