John Will Odam (born May 19, 1943; died August 21, 2022) was an American lawyer, author, and politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He served as

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for the Harris County Attorney's Office.

Biography

Odam briefly served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

before graduating from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and

Baylor Law School Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Associa ...

. In 1973, he began working for the Texas Attorney General, where he eventually became Executive Assistant Attorney General before retiring and returning to practicing law privately. He later served as chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party and a special assistant to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

mayor Kathy Whitmire, among other positions. He ran for Texas Attorney General in 1990, losing the Democratic primary to Dan Morales. In 1996, he ran for one of Texas's Senate seats, losing the nomination to Victor Morales. Along with Jim Chapman, Odam was one of two candidates for the 1996 Democratic nomination for Senate who was eliminated in the first round of voting. During his unsuccessful campaign for Senate, he emphasized his status as a political outsider who would be well-positioned to implement campaign finance reform; he also received media attention for visiting all 254 counties in Texas. In 2008, he served on the Obama/Biden Texas Finance Committee.

References

Living people 1943 births Texas Democrats University of Texas at Austin alumni Baylor Law School alumni {{Texas-politician-stub