Jerry O'Neil
Jerry O'Neil (Republican Party) was a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 3. He assumed office in 2011. He left office in 2015.
O'Neil ran for election for judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He lost in the primary on June 4, 2024.
Biography
O'Neil earned his A.A. from Flathead Community College. His professional experience includes working as a machinist, mechanic, toolmaker, woodworker, manager at Retail Lumber Company, and owner of Mediator and Independent Paralegal.
Committee assignments
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, O'Neil served on the following committees:
| Montana committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Judiciary |
| • Local Government |
| • Transportation |
Issues
Schools and guns
On February 4, 2013, O'Neil introduced House Bill 384, allowing students to leave guns locked in their cars on school grounds. He told the House Judiciary Committee that the bill "allows a student in rural Montana to bring a gun to school locked in their car, and perhaps hunt on the way to school or the way home from school." At the time, state law called for a one-year expulsion for students found to have brought a firearm to school, though attorney Debra Silk told the Associated Press that no Montana school had expelled anyone for such a length.[1] On third reading, the bill was rejected by a vote of 45-53, and died in process as the 2013 session concluded.[2]
Corporal punishment for offenders
Though such a bill had not been formally introduced by the conclusion of the 2013 session, O'Neil was said to be drafting legislation that allowed the option for convicts to accept corporal punishments in lieu of prison time. O'Neil told the Associated Press that his plan could possibly save the state's corrections budget millions of dollars per year. The Montana ACLU countered that although options for decreasing "over-incarceration" and correctional costs needed to be explored, corporal punishment was not one of them.[3][4]
Compensation
After his re-election in 2012, O'Neil wrote a letter to the Legislature requesting that his salary be paid in gold, saying that his constituents told him he was not fulfilling his oath to the U.S. Constitution. He told Politico that the Constitution requires the government to print gold-backed money, saying, "I think we’ve gotten a tremendously long way from [a gold standard]." The state denied this request, saying that the Constitution did not require the payment of state debts with gold and silver coins, and that the state code had no provision for such payment.[5][6]
Elections
2024
See also: Montana Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Montana Supreme Court
Katherine M. Bidegaray defeated Dan Wilson in the general election for Montana Supreme Court on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Katherine M. Bidegaray (Nonpartisan)  | 53.5 | 270,456 |
 | Dan Wilson (Nonpartisan) | 46.5 | 234,771 | |
| Total votes: 505,227 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Montana Supreme Court
Katherine M. Bidegaray and Dan Wilson defeated Jerry O'Neil in the primary for Montana Supreme Court on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Katherine M. Bidegaray (Nonpartisan) | 48.6 | 127,301 |
| ✔ | | Dan Wilson (Nonpartisan) | 34.6 | 90,563 |
 | Jerry O'Neil (Nonpartisan) | 16.8 | 44,058 | |
| Total votes: 261,922 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- John Morrison (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for O'Neil in this election.
2020
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 7
Incumbent Frank Garner defeated Ross Frazier and Nicholas Ramlow in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 7 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Frank Garner (R) | 64.0 | 3,089 |
 | Ross Frazier (D) | 30.6 | 1,475 | |
| Nicholas Ramlow (L) | 5.4 | 260 | ||
| Total votes: 4,824 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 7
Ross Frazier advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 7 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ross Frazier | 100.0 | 841 |
| Total votes: 841 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 7
Incumbent Frank Garner defeated Jerry O'Neil in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 7 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Frank Garner | 69.0 | 1,065 |
| Jerry O'Neil | 31.0 | 478 | |
| Total votes: 1,543 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Libertarian primary election
The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Nicholas Ramlow advanced from the Libertarian primary for Montana House of Representatives District 7.
2018
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 3
Incumbent Zac Perry defeated Jerry O'Neil and Shawn Leslie Guymon in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 3 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Zac Perry (D) | 49.3 | 2,300 |
| Jerry O'Neil (R) | 48.5 | 2,266 | |
 | Shawn Leslie Guymon (L) | 2.2 | 103 | |
| Total votes: 4,669 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 3
Incumbent Zac Perry advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 3 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Zac Perry | 100.0 | 855 |
| Total votes: 855 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 3
Jerry O'Neil advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 3 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jerry O'Neil | 100.0 | 1,239 |
| Total votes: 1,239 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2014
Elections for the Montana House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014, and a general election took place on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 10, 2014; minor party and independent candidates had until June 2, 2014, to file. Zac Perry was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Jerry O'Neil was unopposed in the Republican primary. Perry defeated O'Neil and Chris Colvin (L) in the general election.[7][8][9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Zac Perry |
48.6% | 1,558 | |
| Republican | Jerry O'Neil Incumbent | 47.1% | 1,510 | |
| Libertarian | Chris Colvin | 4.3% | 138 | |
| Total Votes | 3,206 | |||
2012
O'Neil won re-election in the 2012 election for Montana House of Representatives, District 3. O'Neil ran unopposed in the June 5 primary election and defeated Zac Perry (D) and Shawn Guymon (L) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[10][11]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jerry O'Neil Incumbent |
51.1% | 2,333 | |
| Democratic | Zac Perry | 43.7% | 1,996 | |
| Libertarian | Shawn Guymon | 5.1% | 235 | |
| Total Votes | 4,564 | |||
2010
On November 2, 2010, O'Neil won election to the Montana House of Representatives. O'Neil defeated Harm Toren and Sandy Welch in the June 8 primary. He faced Zac Perry (D), Shawn Bailey (C), and Shawn Guymon (I) in the November 2 general election.[12][13]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 3 General Election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Jerry O'Neil (R)
|
1,747 | |||
| Zac Perry (D) | 1,308 | |||
| Shawn Guymon (I) | 286 | |||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jerry O'Neil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
O'Neil’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
I Want To Serve You As Justice Of Montana Supreme Court It is my belief that the courts must follow the law and keep personal feelings and politics out of the decision making process. Our courts must Treat Everyone Who Appears Before It With Justice. I Have Seen Good And Bad In Both Courts And Judges. I intend to Provide Justice For all Montanan's. Consistency is Tantamount[14] |
” |
| —Jerry O'Neil’s campaign website (2024)[15] | ||
2020
Jerry O'Neil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Montana scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2014
In 2014, the Montana State Legislature did not hold a regular session.
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 7 to April 27.
|
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2012, the Montana State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
O'Neil has five children.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Associated Press, "Bill would let students leave guns in locked cars," February 10, 2013. accessed February 13, 2013
- ↑ Open States, "HB 384," accessed July 24, 2013
- ↑ Associated Press, "Pain or prison time? Columbia Falls legislator wants to give inmates the choice," January 31, 2013. accessed February 13, 2013
- ↑ Open States, bills sponsored by Jerry O'Neil. accessed July 24, 2013
- ↑ Politico, "Lawmaker asks to be paid in gold," November 13, 2012. accessed November 15, 2012
- ↑ Politico, "Montana tells lawmaker gold is for fools," November 15, 2012. accessed November 15, 2012
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2014 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed October 29, 2014
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2014 Statewide Primary Election Canvass," accessed June 30, 2014
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2014 Statewide General Election Canvass," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2012 Legislative General Election Canvass," accessed February 13, 2014
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2012 Legislative Primary Election Canvass," accessed February 13, 2014
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Legislative Primary Canvass - June 08, 2010," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2010 Legislative General Election Canvass," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ JerryONeil, “Home,” accessed September 16, 2024
- ↑ Montana Contractors' Association, "Stronger Together: Political Representation," accessed November 5, 2015
- ↑ Montana Weed Control Association, "2013 Legislative Report & Scorecard," accessed September 17, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Montana House of Representatives District 3 2011-2015 |
Succeeded by - |
| ||||||||||
 |
State of Montana Helena (capital) |
|---|---|
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