James H. Donnewald (January 29, 1925 – September 18, 2009) was an American politician from the state of Illinois.

His family moved to Joliet, Illinois when he was in sixth grade, but returned to Carlyle his final year of high school.

He entered Saint Louis University in 1942 and transferred to Lincoln College of Law in Springfield, Illinois in 1944.

Donnewald joined the United States Army after the start of the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1951.

Senator Alan Dixon, Thom Serafin, and William Griffin,[4] he was defeated by Jerome Cosentino, who was also his predecessor.