Incumbents ahead in Odessa

ODESSA — Incumbents held comfortable leads over their opponents in local races for Mayor and Councilmember No. 5 after the first ballot count in the primary election Tuesday, Aug. 1.

Incumbent mayor Bill Crossley had 162 votes. Second-place Jeremy Smith had 37 votes, while Ed Hayden was third with 22 votes.

“I was pretty overwhelmed and humbled (after seeing tallies),” Crossley said. “This time of year, people work a lot of late hours, so to see that many people get out and vote is pretty awesome.”

“I’m actually shocked that I got votes,” Smith said. “There’s stuff to build on and progress to...