David Towell

David Gilmer Towell (June 9, 1937 – June 10, 2003) was an American politician who served a single term as a U.S. Representative from Nevada, representing the state's at-large district. He was a Republican.

Born in Bronxville, New York, Towell was the son of a Canadian-born mother and an English-born father. He attended Bronxville and New York City public schools before earning a B.A. in economics at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in 1960. He served in the Nevada Air National Guard from 1960 to 1966.

A real estate broker by profession, Towell's prior political experience included serving as chairman of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee and as a delegate to the Nevada State Republican conventions in 1968, 1970, and 1972. He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, expecting to face eight-term conservative incumbent Democrat Walter Baring in the general election. However, Baring was defeated in the Democratic primary by a considerably more liberal Democrat, James Bilbray. Boosted by the divided opposition, a late endorsement from Baring himself, and Richard Nixon's national landslide, Towell won by a narrow margin.

In 1974, Towell ran for reelection, but was soundly defeated by a more conservative Democrat, former judge Jim Santini. Towell ran for the U.S. Senate in 1976 against incumbent Democrat Howard Cannon, but lost by an overwhelming margin. Afterwards, he resumed the real estate business.

Towell died of cancer on June 10, 2003, at Washoe County Medical Center in Reno.

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