Yet he was surprised two years later, when former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Hubert Utterback upset him by over 4,000 votes.

He had served nearly twenty years, in the Sixty-fourth and the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1915 – January 3, 1935).

Dowell returned to Des Moines to practice law, and reclaimed his seat two years later in 1936, when Utterbeck ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

Dowell filed for re-election in the 1940 race, but died due to heart disease in Washington, D.C., on February 4, 1940.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress