As Odessa voters head to the polls for the November election, they’ll be deciding who will lead the city as its next mayor.
Incumbent Javier Joven is facing off against local attorney Cal Hendrick in a testy election where conservative values and questions about the needs of the city have taken center stage.
Joven, Odessa’s first Hispanic mayor who led the community through the wake of the pandemic, has also had to deal with multiple water outages that left Odessans without running water as well as shake-ups within city government.
The mayor has also made conservative issues a priority over the years, supporting local officials’ efforts to restrict abortion in Odessa in 2022 and more recently to ban transgender people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity at city facilities.
Hendrick, meanwhile, is running on a platform focused on providing reliable city services. He argues Joven and his allies haven’t prioritized infrastructure projects enough over the years. Instead of focusing on social issues, Hendrick believes Odessa needs a mayor that will prioritize providing residents with reliable city services.
Marfa Public Radio’s News Director Travis Bubenik recently sat down with Permian Basin reporter Mitch Borden to talk about the race. You can hear their full conversation at the top of the page.
