Two years later, after the death of her husband, she ran again. Since Owen played a significant role when hurricane hit Miami in 1927 and put effort on promotions on newspapers, she won over Sears by more than 14,000 votes [http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/19256] and was elected to Congress in November 1928 and began her term of office on March 4, 1929, while a widow and mother of four. Her election was contested on the grounds that she had lost her citizenship by marrying an alien. By the Cable Act in 1922, she could petition for her citizenship, which she did in 1925, less than the seven years required by the Constitution. She argued her case before the House Committee on Elections, saying that no American man had ever lost his citizenship by marriage. She said that she lost her citizenship because she was a woman, not because of her marital status. The U.S. House of Representatives voted in her favor.