Updated: 12:26 p.m., Oct. 27, 2026
Gloria Gray’s campaign for Inglewood mayor has a new, deep-pocketed ally: Hollywood Park.
The stadium development, home of SoFi Stadium, launched a $750,000 campaign against Mayor James Butts reelection bid last month. It then turned that machine to support Gray, donating thousands of dollars to her campaign and printing off mailers in support of her effort to unseat Butts.
Gray, a member of the Inglewood City Council, said she can’t control who decides to support her, and that her platform isn’t affected by Hollywood Park’s backing.
“My only interest is the community’s interest,” she said.
Hollywood Park’s foray into the Nov. 3 mayoral election comes with high stakes. Documents show the stadium development ramped up its campaign against Butts just a few weeks after a judge sided with the city and voided the 2015 agreement that brought SoFi Stadium to Inglewood.
Now, the basic terms of Hollywood Park’s relationship with the city are up in the air. Barring an appeal of the decision, whoever is elected mayor will be responsible for working out what replaces the contract. Butts has been the city’s mayor since 2011, but his partnership with SoFi Stadium owner Stan Kroenke has been fragmenting amid clashes over billboards, infrastructure payments and admissions taxes.
Campaign spokesperson John Shallman told The LA Local earlier this month that while the Hollywood Park-funded Take Back Inglewood campaign was opposed to Butts’ reelection, it wasn’t ready to throw its muscle behind one of the five candidates challenging him.
Within days, it appears, Hollywood Park’s position changed. Take Back Inglewood paid for mailers calling for Gray’s election and records show they pitched a $25,000 donation into the council member’s campaign coffers.
Shallman said in an email that the stadium-backed campaign shifted toward Gray after she won endorsements from the LA County Democratic Party and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. He praised her campaign for highlighting resident voices.
“We came to believe that Gloria Gray was the right person at the right time,” he said.
Butts, whose own campaign has pulled in donations from billboard companies and real estate developers, wrote in a statement to The LA Local that he is not surprised the stadium development is backing Gray. He said the council member supports the anti-billboard Measure BB and is against the ticket tax increase Measure AT, positions that would both align with stadium interests.
Gray, though, said she isn’t staking out a position on either of the measures. She said she is instead prioritizing the perspectives of residents who say they don’t like Inglewood’s video billboards and want more accountability for the money the city already brings in.
Hollywood Park, the Kia Forum and billboard operator WOW Media have spent even more on ballot measure campaigns than on the mayor’s race.. The stadium-backed Neighbors for Beautiful Inglewood has put $3.1 million into a campaign for Measure BB. On the other side, the billboard-funded Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability has spent $2.5 million trying to block BB and pushing for the Measure AT.
Inglewood’s major venues and their owners have weighed into elections before. The LA Times reported the 2018 race turned into a proxy war between Steve Ballmer and Madison Square Garden, Co., who owned the Forum at the time.
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