Updated: 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2026
As election results began to trickle out on Tuesday night, showing Inglewood’s mayoral race could be headed for the first runoff since 2011, the live band at Mayor James Butts’ watch party paused its set.
Butts, running for a fifth term in office, picked up a microphone and told supporters he’d be ready for any second round with his best-placed opponent, Councilmember Gloria Gray.
“If it is a runoff between myself and Ms. Gray, we’re going to crush her,” he said.
As of Wednesday morning, early results show Butts’ 29.22% of votes trailing Gray’s 32.65%, according to the LA County Registrar’s official results. The election for the city of nearly 102,000 will go to a runoff if the result holds and no candidate gets more than half of votes. Votes will continue to be counted over the coming weeks.
Gray told backers at her campaign headquarters that the election isn’t over until it’s over, but that the numbers looked good.
“The mayor is very vulnerable,” she said.
The early results look like a stark reproof for Butts, who after being sworn into office 15 years ago helped usher the city out of a financial crisis, then rode a wave of stadium-driven development to dominant wins in three straight elections.
Along the way, though, he accumulated criticisms from some residents over the city’s lack of public transparency and over the effects of the stadiums on daily life. His relationship with the stadiums and their billionaire owners fractured last year amid financial disputes, and they threw their support behind Gray.
Patsy Nimmers, a longtime Inglewood resident and supporter of Butts, said it’s still too early to tell how the race will shake out. She said some voters are worried about change, but that she believes Butts has done a terrific job guiding the city.
“Nobody has done what Mayor Butts has done,” she said.
On the other side of the city, Gray’s supporters cheered and clapped as she arrived at campaign headquarters. Supporters shared stories about how they met Gray and why they trusted her leadership.
Frank Proctor, a longtime Inglewood resident, said he has known Gray since going to high school with her daughter.
“She is a strong leader. Everything she said, she was about,” he said. “I’m here to make sure we have real change.”
Gray emphasized patience.
“I want you all to remember this is the first leg. We still have work to do,” she said.
Here’s what’s at stake in the Inglewood mayor’s race
Butts was the winner of the last runoff in 2011, beating out incumbent Daniel Tabor to take over leadership of a city in a financial crisis. He took thumping wins in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Inglewood has transformed over Butts’ 15 years in office as the Kia Forum, Intuit Dome and SoFi Stadium continue driving new development across the city.
But where some locals love the international credibility and economic boost the developments brought to Inglewood, others say they are burdened by heavier traffic and rising living costs. It hasn’t been all roses for the city’s pocketbook either: Staff project a deficit of $30.8 million in this year’s budget.
Those everyday issues have, at times, been shuffled to the back seat during Inglewood’s election season by trouble with the stadiums. Butts’ working relationship with the stadiums and their owners, Stan Kroenke and Steve Ballmer, crumbled over the last year as the two sides warred over billboards, infrastructure payments and ticket taxes.
The conflict sparked a pair of ballot initiatives — Measure AT and Measure BB — and drew the stadiums and their billboard opponents into the election.
Hollywood Park, the development that houses SoFi Stadium, threw at least $750,000 into a campaign to replace Butts with Gray. Butts’ own campaign has received heavy support from billboard companies and real estate interests.
Butts said that the stadiums are trying to take over.
“The Inglewood I came back to was an Inglewood nobody wanted,” Butts said on Tuesday. “This Inglewood, they want it. They want to control it.”
Here’s how the other candidates fared in the mayoral race
Inglewood’s mayor is the city’s top elected official, responsible for presiding over City Council meetings and voting along with council members on everything from municipal taxes to pothole repairs.
Whoever ultimately wins the office will lead the city when the Olympics come to town in 2028 and will be responsible for reconstructing the city’s tattered financial relationship with SoFi Stadium.
Behind Gray and Butts, Fre’Drisha “Sha” Dixon was in third as of Wednesday morning with 16.8% of votes. Raina Carrillo was next with 12.21%, then Joe Soto with 5.87% and Arturo Martinez, with 3.24%, according to the registrar’s office.
Dixon did not concede on Tuesday night, telling The LA Local she expects future tallies to break in her favor. Carrillo said she was disappointed by early numbers but proud of campaigning in an uphill battle.
Martinez said Gray’s early lead is a win for his own platform and for the city of Inglewood.
“I ran for change and change is what we are going to get,” he wrote in a text.
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