# Mayor of Inglewood Compare records and positions simply between Raina Carrillo, Fre'Drisha Dixon, Joseph Soto, and 3 more for Mayor of Inglewood at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person is Inglewood's chief executive. They manage the city budget and police and fire leadership. They also oversee economic development and housing policy. - Jurisdiction: City of Inglewood - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/inglewood-mayor - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Raina Carrillo** - **Fre'Drisha Dixon** - **Joseph Soto** - **James T. Butts** — Incumbent - **Gloria D. Gray** - **Arturo Martinez** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Six candidates qualified for the November 3 ballot for Inglewood mayor, led by four-term incumbent James T. Butts. Inglewood's charter requires a majority to win outright, so a field this size raises a real chance of a runoff if nobody clears 50%. The winner serves a four-year term as Inglewood's chief executive. They propose the budget, direct the police and fire departments, and set the city's direction on development, housing and public safety, working with a four-member City Council. The choice is largely continuity against change: Butts's fifteen years in office have coincided with SoFi Stadium, the Intuit Dome and the development around them, while every challenger offers a different critique of that record — of who it has benefited, of transparency, or simply that fifteen years is long enough. ## James T. Butts Butts has been Inglewood's mayor since 2011 and is its longest-serving, seeking an unprecedented fifth term. They point to SoFi Stadium, the Intuit Dome and the surrounding development as their tenure's record, and says growth should keep benefiting current and future residents. A fifth term would carry them through the city's 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics. **Strengths:** Fifteen years in office, three prior re-elections, and a tenure defined by SoFi Stadium, the Intuit Dome, and the development around them. **Trade-offs:** A fifth term would extend one leader's hold on City Hall to two decades, and every challenger's platform is built around the case that it is time for someone else. **Keep in mind:** Some residents say they've been cut out of decision-making and blocked from the benefits that development brings, per LA Local reporting; Butts frames their record as growth that should keep benefiting residents. ## Fre'Drisha Dixon She is an attorney and the founder of a family-owned Inglewood law firm, with earlier experience in the LA County Public Defender's office. Running as "Leadership Inglewood Can Trust," she says residents feel shut out of City Hall's decisions and wants to bring transparency and accountability to it. She ran for mayor once before, in 2022, and came within about three points of forcing a runoff. **Strengths:** A law degree and practicing family-and-civil firm, plus the closest anyone has come to forcing Butts into a runoff, in 2022. **Trade-offs:** Ran for mayor once before, in 2022, and did not win. **Keep in mind:** Her 2022 run came within about three points of a runoff — the strongest recent challenge to Butts — which her campaign points to as evidence this field could go differently. ## Arturo Martinez He is a 46-year Inglewood resident, an Inglewood High graduate, and has spent more than 25 years working in technology. Running as "For Inglewood By Inglewood," he wants to fight displacement by teaching residents about trusts and generational wealth and to bring smart-city technology to the city. This is his first run for elected office. **Strengths:** Decades in technology and a platform aimed at using it for smart-city upgrades, paired with a generational-wealth push against displacement. **Trade-offs:** First run for any office, so there is no record in elected government to weigh against Butts's fifteen years. **Keep in mind:** His displacement plan is framed as financial education — trusts for elders, generational-wealth lessons for children — rather than a housing-policy proposal, which is a different kind of intervention than a rent or zoning measure. ## Gloria D. Gray She is Inglewood's District 1 councilmember, elected in 2023, and a retired health care administrator who has spent two decades on regional water agency boards. She wants evening council meetings, longer public comment, and ballot measures restoring citizen police oversight and requiring body cameras. She did not file for re-election to her council seat and is running for mayor instead. **Strengths:** One term on the City Council already, two decades on regional water boards, and a specific platform: evening meetings, longer public comment, and restored citizen police oversight. **Trade-offs:** Barely two years on the council is a short record of city governance to weigh against Butts's fifteen years. **Keep in mind:** As a sitting councilmember challenging the mayor, she is asking voters to judge Butts's tenure from inside the government she has served in since 2023. ## Raina Carrillo She is a lifelong Inglewood resident who works with young people on gang intervention and violence prevention, and has served as a state Democratic Party delegate and a community clinic board member. She wants residents to have a stronger voice in City Hall's decisions, saying "we don't have the community voice currently." This is her second run for mayor; she got just under 12% of the vote in 2022. **Strengths:** Years of youth gang-intervention work and a second campaign, giving her more name recognition than a first-time candidate would have. **Trade-offs:** Finished with just under 12% in her 2022 run, and no experience in elected office to weigh against Butts's tenure. **Keep in mind:** Her central case is about process, not a specific policy: that residents currently have no real voice in City Hall's decisions, a claim she has made consistently since her first campaign. ## Joseph Soto Soto is a property owner making their third run for Inglewood mayor, after first seeking the office in 2010. They want more transparency at City Hall, an independent audit of the city's finances, and citywide rent control. The one thing to know: they support rent control despite being a landlord themselves, a position their own material presents as notable. **Strengths:** A specific three-part platform — transparency, an independent financial audit, and rent control — and persistence across three campaigns since 2010. **Trade-offs:** Three runs for mayor since 2010 without winning, and no service in elected office. **Keep in mind:** Soto backs rent control as a property owner themselves, which their own campaign material presents as a deliberate break from typical landlord politics. ## Sources 1. [City of Inglewood — Candidate Filing Log 2026 (Mayor, City Council Districts 1 & 2; updated 08/21/2026)](https://www.cityofinglewood.org/DocumentCenter/View/22121/November-3-2026-General-Municipal-Election-72326) 2. [City of Inglewood Charter (amended June 2018), Article VII (Elections), Section 1.5 — majority-vote and runoff rule](https://www.cityofinglewood.org/DocumentCenter/View/340/Inglewood-City-Charter-PDF) 3. [2 Urban Girls — Inglewood mayor to face 5 challengers in upcoming election](https://2urbangirls.com/2026/08/inglewood-mayor-to-face-5-challengers-in-upcoming-election/) 4. [Los Angeles Wave Newspaper Group — Mayor Butts to face five challengers in Nov. 3 election](https://wavepublication.com/mayor-butts-to-face-five-challengers-in-nov-3-election/) 5. [2 Urban Girls — Fre'Drisha Dixon Enters 2026 Inglewood Mayoral Race](https://2urbangirls.com/2026/02/fredrisha-dixon-enters-2026-inglewood-mayoral-race/) 6. [2 Urban Girls — Arturo Martinez announces candidacy for Inglewood mayor](https://2urbangirls.com/2026/02/arturo-martinez-announces-candidacy-for-inglewood-mayor/) 7. [LA Local — Inglewood mayoral candidate Raina Carrillo is running to give 'a community voice' to city residents](https://thelalocal.org/neighborhoods/inglewood/raina-carrillo-inglewood-mayor-election/) 8. [LA Local — Yes, Inglewood Mayor James Butts is running for a 5th term](https://thelalocal.org/neighborhoods/inglewood/inglewood-mayor-james-butts-is-running-for-a-fifth-term/) 9. [LA Local — Gloria Gray officially announces her run for Inglewood mayor](https://thelalocal.org/neighborhoods/inglewood/inglewood-election-gloria-gray-mayor/) ## The rest of the ballot Mayor of Inglewood is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Mayor of Inglewood — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/inglewood-mayor (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.