Gloria Gray is challenging Inglewood Mayor James Butts for his seat in this November’s election.
The first-term City Council member filed campaign paperwork with the city Wednesday and said she plans to take on a field of mayoral candidates who have announced campaigns including Butts, Inglewood’s mayor of 15 years.
Gray told The LA Local she believes the city is ready for new leadership.
“My style of governance is different,” Gray said. “We should be open to the public. We should be transparent. We should be accountable for our decisions.”
Gray said she believes City Council should hold some meetings in the evenings — the body currently meets on Tuesday afternoons — and should have longer public discussions before it votes.
“The public needs to know what kind of business we’re conducting,” Gray said.
She also said she supports recently proposed ballot initiatives to relaunch the city’s Citizen Police Oversight Commission and implement a police body camera policy.
Butts told The LA Local in March he “absolutely” plans to run for a fifth term in office. At least three others — Raina Carrillo, Fre’Drisha Dixon and Arturo Martinez — have announced mayoral campaigns of their own.
Whoever wins will, barring a runoff, be mayor when the Super Bowl returns to Inglewood in February and when the Olympics descend on the city in 2028.
The nomination period for local candidates in LA County opened on Monday and closes August 7.
Gray, a retired health care administrator, won her first election as an Inglewood Unified School District trustee in 1995 and has spent two decades as a member of various water agencies, according to her bio on the city’s website.
She remains on the board for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and was elected to City Council in 2023, unseating Councilmember George Dotson in a run-off. ‘
Leonard Redway, a plumber and member of Inglewood’s Construction Appeals Board, announced Wednesday alongside Gray that he plans to run for her open District 1 seat, representing the northeast quadrant of the city.
Redway said he wants a more transparent city government that works for the needs of Inglewood residents.
“There are more residents than there are business owners. There are more residents than there are stadium owners,” Redway said.
Inglewood’s election will be packed this fall. Voters will choose a mayor, council members in Districts 1 and 2, school board members in Districts 1, 2 and 3 and could see ballot measures dealing with policing, billboards, parking and stadium taxes.
