Odessa’s mayor ran to assist the West Texas metropolis “repent.” Now he desires a second time period.

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ODESSA – A replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s Final Supper hung low over jugs of candy tea and totes of sizzling espresso at Parker Heights Christian Church within the coronary heart of city in Odessa.

The refreshments had been for religion leaders and different neighborhood members who had gathered across the mayor of Odessa throughout one in all his many casual listening periods.

Javier Joven, this West Texas metropolis’s first Hispanic mayor, spoke forcefully for greater than twenty minutes about water infrastructure, public security and different matters of the day.

At one level, amid discussions of damaged water pipes and bond scores, an attendee requested Joven if the Metropolis Council would revisit banning transgender folks from utilizing public loos exterior the intercourse assigned to them at start, a difficulty the council briefly debated earlier this yr.

Joven, a deeply spiritual and conservative man, instructed the viewers he supported the coverage as a result of he worries concerning the security of his 4 granddaughters.

“I’m concerned about any male being in any restroom anywhere,” he stated.

This marketing campaign cease highlighted Joven’s penchant for diving into cultural points whereas holding a nonpartisan place, which his critics say is inappropriate, alienating and distracting from on a regular basis issues mayors ought to handle.

Joven and his supporters say it isn’t about politics. It is about morality.

In his quest for reelection, Joven plans to be unwavering in his perception that governance and spirituality are sure collectively and social points are as vital as municipal issues, akin to infrastructure and blight.

His rhetoric is turning into extra commonplace in Texas, as conservatives and the far-right flank of the Republican Celebration have turn into more and more prepared to embrace religiosity in workplace and public coverage — together with in nonpartisan elections for college boards and metropolis councils.

For Joven, it’s about his obedience to God and saving the soul of his metropolis.

“I felt like we needed to publicly repent,” he stated in an interview with The Texas Tribune, referring to Odessa.

In the meantime, his opponents query his management model and skill to usher a metropolis so integral to the oil and gasoline business throughout one in all its most profitable intervals but.

“I can’t remember a time when the city council was so partisan,” stated Ronnie Lewis, a precinct chair of the county Republican Celebration and one in all Joven’s fiercest critics.

Cal Hendrick, a former oil and gasoline lawyer and common counsel for an insurance coverage agency, hopes to unseat Joven within the November election.

He acknowledged that the majority voters are targeted on the presidential race however stated partisan politics shouldn’t outline the mayoral election.

“It’s about what’s best for Odessa,” he stated. “We’re talking about water, roads, parks, police, fire,” Hendrick stated.

Joven received his first metropolis council in 1995, beating an incumbent. He served his first time period representing the town’s southwest district, the place he was born and raised.

His mom, an immigrant from Acuña, Mexico, and his father, born in Del Rio, printed marketing campaign fliers and drove round city in a minivan to distribute them. One among his first political fundraisers was an enchilada drive, which netted $1,200.

He felt unprepared for his first council assembly. He wished to crack down on prostitution and enhance the district’s infrastructure. Finally, he efficiently handed three ordinances focusing on sexually oriented companies selling what he referred to as illicit exercise. He additionally wished the council to make use of beforehand accredited debt to enhance the town’s infrastructure. However the council overruled him, he stated. He felt he was ineffective and stepped down earlier than his time period was up.

On the time, he instructed the Odessa American he was leaving as a result of he wanted to turn into his household’s “spiritual leader.”

As a civilian, Joven continued to be annoyed. He loathed the depiction created by the best-selling e book Friday Evening Lights and the comparisons to Midland, a wealthier metropolis 20 miles east.

“Odessa doesn’t have rivers or mountains, nothing to be proud of, and that was present in the community. I wanted to rebrand,” he stated.

In 2000, he ran for mayor however misplaced. Ten years later, he once more ran for Metropolis Council and misplaced that race too.

Joven would lastly get his probability to place his mark on metropolis politics after he ran for mayor in 2020 and received. His victory got here after he spent years harnessing the assist of the conservative voters throughout his time as vice chair of the native Republican Celebration, his first foray into celebration politics in 2012.

For the 2020 election, the Ector County Republicans modified their bylaws to endorse nonpartisan races — an exception break with fashionable historical past. The GOP backed Joven and three different candidates. Joven promised to outlaw abortion in Odessa with the assist of the opposite candidates.

Three of the 4 received.

Two years later, in 2022, they adopted by means of with their pledge, however solely after the Texas Legislature successfully outlawed abortion in 2021.

Joven enlisted the assistance of pastors to drum up public assist for an ordinance he hoped the council might cross with no citywide election. A bunch of church leaders then criticized Joven for questioning the spiritual beliefs of a council member who opposed the ordinance.

The council went on to approve a nine-page ordinance, which largely mirrored state legislation.

This, Joven argues, was an important step to rebranding the town. Critics stated it was a partisan challenge the council didn’t want to fret about.

Joven didn’t cease there.

In Texas, a metropolis’s constitution spells out how a lot energy its nonpartisan mayor holds. There are “strong” mayors who oversee the every day operations of the town as an government. And there are “weak” mayors who’ve ceremonial duties with the day-to-day enterprise run by an appointed metropolis supervisor. Odessa has a “weak” mayor system.

Not like most metropolis council members who run to signify particular components of city, mayors run citywide, affording them the authority to shepherd discussions in metropolis corridor and set up priorities.

Gloria Cox, an affiliate political science professor on the College of North Texas, stated regardless of native authorities’s nonpartisan cost, most elected officers have some form of allegiance to a celebration.

“We all know the party affiliation of most of the people in government, particularly mayors,” Cox stated.

Ray Perryman, a neighborhood economist, believes the Metropolis Council’s overemphasis on partisan and social points has resulted in dysfunction.

“These are certainly important topics throughout the country but are not within the purview of city governments and go far beyond the core functions related to providing infrastructure and supporting local economic success,” he stated.

Perryman and different Metropolis Council critics argue that underneath the present authorities, the town has suffered challenges associated to infrastructure, financial growth and personnel points. Metropolis Council members say they’re carrying out exactly what they got down to do.

Denise Swanner, an at-large council member elected in 2020 and thought of an in depth ally of Joven, defended her file, calling the ordinance classifying Odessa as a so-called sanctuary for the unborn her utmost precedence.

“I answer to one person, and one person only, and that’s God himself,” Swanner stated. “And then, I answer to my constituents. It’s God, family and then government, so it was the right thing for me to do personally.”

All three, previously backed by the GOP, face challengers in November.

It hasn’t been all social points. Joven and his allies on the council have raised salaries for cops and firefighters, started a multi-million sports activities complicated deal, secured a contract to deliver Bass Professional Store to the town, generated income from mineral rights for the primary time and applied a brand new strategy to set finances priorities.

Joven additionally pointed to eradicating the previous metropolis supervisor and lawyer in early 2022. His critics disagree, saying the choice was pointless and divisive.

Joven stated the 2 metropolis staff had been uncooperative.

These personnel modifications ignited a seachange within the metropolis. Extra resignations adopted. By January 2024, at the very least three extra division leaders had left, both by submitting an instantaneous retirement or resigning, in accordance with an evaluation by The Odessa American. The town has since changed them.

It has additionally changed its utilities director twice in lower than two years. Tom Kerr, who served for a decade, retired. Kevin Niles, who took over for him, resigned to pursue the identical job in Kansas. Joven stated the personnel overhaul was a mandatory step for the town to perform.

“There was a culture here where a lot of people did not feel comfortable coming to work,” Joven stated. “There was a huge sigh of relief. Change needed to happen.”

And simply final August, the town eliminated the president and vp of the Odessa Improvement Company — Kris Crow and Jeff Russell, who had been as soon as thought-about allies of Joven and helped him marketing campaign for the 2020 election. Russell stated the removing caught him abruptly.

“I didn’t know there was any animosity before this,” Russell stated.

Crow couldn’t be reached for remark.

In the meantime, Odessa’s already frail infrastructure ruptured. In two years, two leaks led to citywide outages that lasted hours. The primary in 2022 lasted 48 hours. In July, the town spent $25 million to start fixing it.

Residents are additionally grappling with a scarcity of rubbish vans that compelled the town to scale back the variety of weekly trash pick-ups, previously twice, to only one. The difficulty has been ongoing since December 2023. The town stated it expects to completely arm the division with vans by subsequent yr.

Hendrick, the insurance coverage lawyer hoping to unseat Joven, stated he desires the Metropolis Council to return to addressing on a regular basis points, not nationwide political wedge points.

Hendrick comes from a household of cattle ranchers who’ve roamed Odessa for the reason that Eighteen Eighties. Impressed by former President Ronald Reagan, the 59-year-old was the primary registered Republican in his household. He has voted alongside celebration strains in each native, state and federal election.

Hendrick has no political background and has by no means run for workplace.

However the nationwide points seeping into the town council discussions concern him. He stated the partisanship has hindered the town’s progress.

“Your duty is to the entire community, not focused on some political party,” he stated.

One Thursday morning in July, Joven began his day at his workplace in metropolis corridor sporting a uniform: a white collared shirt with an insignia of Odessa printed on it and brown pants. He chatted with metropolis staff he bumped into within the hallway and elevator, proudly boasting about his efforts to shift away from the tradition he described as poisonous and fractured.

This job comes simply to him, he stated. He enjoys fixing the town’s on a regular basis points and those his constituents elevate on to him.

In his workplace overlooking the town, Joven held up a smartphone. It buzzed nonstop with calls and messages.

“This is the stuff that’s easy,” he stated. “Fixing the potholes, the trash. I send the pictures I get to my director and they address it immediately. And I like hearing about that.”

Regardless of the controversies that marred his first time period, he feels optimistic about his reelection prospects.

And in contrast to different campaigns the place he’s been on the ticket, he stated he feels assured delivering his message on the path to residents and voters once more, whatever the yearslong backlash.

Different politicians he is aware of hated the marketing campaign path.

However him?

“I’m the opposite. I thoroughly enjoy it, and I feel energized.”

Eli Hartman contributed.

Disclosure: College of North Texas has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full listing of them right here.