Last November, around seven hundred people packed into the Ector Theatre, a renovated movie palace in downtown Odessa, to watch the swearing in of Mayor Cal Hendrick and three city council members. The local CBS affiliate broadcast the half-hour event live. The four recently elected officials received a standing ovation, like athletes on their way to the state championship game. A military color guard and a performance of the National Anthem added to the pep rally atmosphere.

Presiding over the ceremony was Republican State Representative Brooks Landgraf, who thanked the candidates for running. “You answered that call to service at a time when it was specifically difficult in this community for anybody to do that,” Landgraf said. His sentiments echoed those of Reverend Joe Weaks, a past

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