Gilbert D. Smith (born 1933/1934) is an American politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Carson, California.

[7] In November 1970, the city was raked with allegations of bribery charging the city's prior mayor, John Junk, an incumbent councilmember, Dannie H. Spence, a former deputy district attorney and attorney general who were both from Carson, a member of Carson's Environmental Control Commission, and a former member of the Parks and Recreation Commission; they were all charged with soliciting bribes to resolve zoning matters.

[8] In January 1971, he was appointed to the transportation committee of League of California Cities, Los Angeles County Division.

[11] In May 1973, Smith unsuccessfully ran for the open seat in the 67th district of the California Assembly after the death of Larry Townsend running on a platform of using tax revenues to develop more mass transportation to reduce pollution, and to reevaluate the need for so many freeways, in particular, the Century Freeway.

[13] He was reappointed mayor,[14] succeeding Sak Yamamoto,[15] and was faced with the approval of a $5.4 million budget with nearly all of it dedicated to the current provision of services (with a $22,000 cushion).

[21] Smith announced that he would resign in November 1979 although after the successful recall of councilmen Sak Yamamoto and John Marbut, he would stay on until March 1980.