[2] Odom was first elected as a state representative to serve in the 95th Tennessee General Assembly (1987–1988), succeeding fellow Democrat Michael Murphy.

[2] Prior to his service in the Tennessee House of Representatives, he served in the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County from 1983 to 1995.

[3] He introduced a bill that would have required hunters to have permission of homeowners before firing weapons on private property and within 100 yards (91 m) of someone's home, and after that was rejected by a House subcommittee, he introduced a bill to authorize local governments to regulate hunting.

[4] In February 1998, he sponsored a bill that allowed Tennessee's 51 parks to put up voluntary donation boxes.

He stated the ordinance is impractical for large industrial sites such as the 45-acre (180,000 m2) lot Western Express owns.