Updated: 10:07 a.m. on Feb. 17, 2026
Two Inglewood residents, Fre’Drisha “Shá” Dixon and Arturo Martinez, have announced campaigns for the mayor’s seat in this year’s Nov. 3 election.
Dixon, an attorney, announced her campaign for mayor on Sunday.
“I’m running for mayor of Inglewood to put the people back in power,” Dixon told The LA Local. Dixon said she sees a number of ethics and leadership flaws in the city’s current leadership.
This would be Dixon’s second attempt at a mayoral run. She received the second-highest amount of votes in the 2022 mayoral race, taking nearly 17% of the vote, according results posted by the city. Butts wrapped up 53% of the vote in the field of six that year, his fourth win in a row.
Martinez, an IT director, announced his run for mayor in January. He decided to run, he said, after a 2024 attempt to challenge District 4 Councilmember Dionne Faulk was stymied by paperwork filing issues.
He’s running for mayor specifically to challenge what he sees as election gatekeeping in the city clerk’s office.
“I’m more of an activist,” Martinez said. “I don’t care if I win, my goal is to get on the ballot.”
Martinez said he believes Inglewood’s entire council needs to be replaced after years of rapid development in the city.
“Our city is being sold out from under us without any feedback,” he said.
Butts, Inglewood’s mayor of 15 years, has not publicly announced whether he will run for reelection and declined an interview after Tuesday’s City Council meeting. His campaign website still showed content from the 2022 election cycle, as of noon Wednesday.
No candidate has officially filed to be on Inglewood’s ballot — the filing period for Inglewood elections is not yet open — but Dixon, Martinez and Butts all have active fundraising committees, according to state campaign finance records.
Inglewood has a handful of other elections slated for this year along with the mayoral race. In a June 2 special election, residents will vote on an ordinance to legalize the sale of some tamer firework variants within city limits.
In November, voters will go to the polls to pick council members for City Council Districts 1 and 2, along with three trustees for Inglewood Unified School District.
