The people of Odessa have spoken. The City of Odessa has a new Mayor and two new city council members after a landslide victory in the December 15th runoff election in Odessa, Texas. 

The November 3rd General Election had resulted in three races going into a Run-Off. Those races were the race for Mayor, City Council At-Large, and City Council District 1. On November 3rd, in the race for Mayor of Odessa, Dewey Bryant received 43% of the vote with Javier Joven trailing behind with 40% of the vote. In the race for City Council District 1 Mark Matta received 44% of the vote with Michael K. Shelton received 19% of the vote. And, last but not least, in the race for Odessa City Council’s At-Large position David Turner received 45% of the vote compared to Denise Swanner’s 29% of the vote. Since no candidate running for office in these races met the necessary threshold to win their race a Run-Off election was scheduled for December 15th. 

No one knew, with absolute certainty, which candidates would come out as victorious. As the weeks passed the election became more and more heated. From the beginning the Ector County Republican Party had endorsed an entire slate of candidates including Joven for Mayor and Swanner and Matta for City Council. This was, in and of itself, controversial as some questioned if it was the role of the local Republican Party to endorse local candidates in non-partisan races. 

However, the local party saw the endorsement of Joven, Swanner, and Matta as an essential part of preserving Ector County’s conservative beliefs in values for years to come. Other conservative groups from around the State appeared to agree with Ector County Republican Party’s assessment.

Chairman of Conservatives of Texas, Luis Burrola, also cast their support behind the three candidates. “We support all three candidates because we believe the vision they have will provide the most opportunity for the community of Odessa.” said Burrola.

In a press release from West Texas for Life, Jim Baxa wrote, “In our interview process we have found Mayoral Candidate Javier Joven, City Council Candidate Denise Swanner, and City Council Candidate Mark Matta to be candidates for political office who not only say they are pro-life, but are willing to put action to their pro-life beliefs.”

In the past several few weeks Mark Lee Dickson, who serves as Director with Right to Life of East Texas and the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative, held two pro-life rallies in Odessa regarding making Odessa a Sanctuary City for the Unborn. Joven, Swanner, and Matta all attended in support of the initiative.    

The Ector County Democrats stayed fairly quiet about the municipal races until a story broke in the Midland Reporter Telegram about Joven’s desire to see Odessa pass the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance. The Ector County Democrat Party shared the story on their Facebook account on December 12th with the commentary: “It simply cannot be overstated enough the importance of voting for Bryant over Joven, and this is a key reason.” 

According to several supporters of Joven, Matta, and Swanner, the other candidates did not appear to be strong conservative candidates. “We have had Turner and Bryant in office for eight years. It’s time we try something different,” shared one Odessa resident. From Odessa’s increasing budget to the possibility of mask mandates, business shutdowns, and restrictions on family gatherings - many voters throughout Odessa expressed their concern with the direction Odessa was going. To top it off, the lack of transparency from the Mayor and the City Council led many to wonder just what the City of Odessa was hiding. 

The results of the election was a surprise to many. In early voting Javier Joven led with 61.63% (2,519) of the votes while Dewey Bryant trailed with 38.37% (1,588) of the votes. On election day Joven continued to stay ahead with 67.71% (1,040) votes cast in his favor compared to the 32.29% (496) amassed by Bryant. This led to an overall total of 63.29% (3,559) of the votes for Javier Joven and 36.71% (2,064) for Dewey Bryant. 

Mark Matta carried a favorable lead throughout his run-off election as well. In early voting Matta led with 61.33% (333) of the votes with Michael K. Shelton Sr. trailing with 38.67% (210) of the votes. On election day Matta pulled 70.5% (138) of the votes compared to Shelton’s 29.95% (59) of the votes. This led to an overall total of 63.65% (471) votes cast for Mark Matta and 36.35% (269) cast for Michael Shelton. 

Out of the three candidates who won their race, the largest margin of victory goes to Denise Swanner who was running up against former Mayor David Turner for the City Council At-Large position. In early voting Denise Swanner led with 70.27% (2,863) of the votes with David Turner trailing with 29.73% (1,211) of the votes. On election day Swanner pulled 74.51% (1,140) of the vote compared to Turner’s 25.49% (390). The overall total in the race was 71.43% (4,003) for Denise Swanner and 28.57% (1,601) for David Turner. 

Upon winning their races Joven, Matta, and Swanner celebrated with a room full of some of their many hard-working volunteers at the Ector County Republican Party Headquarters.

Joven addressed his volunteers, “I’m very excited for all of our volunteers. Our hard workers throughout this campaign . . . They have worked so hard. They believed in the campaign, they believed in the platform, and it’s been a community platform. They believed in change, they asked for change, and it starts tonight.”

Mayor Joven described the win as an improbable victory in the eyes of people, but a glorious victory with the help of God and his volunteers.