Why was Mary Sheffield at a Trump themed holiday party?

Detroit's city council president, who campaigned for Kamala Harris, raised eyebrows Monday after being pictured at a celebrity event planner's annual Christmas Party.

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield called me last night to explain her attendance at celebrity event planner Suhair Kallabat’s President Trump-themed holiday party.

Sheffield’s all-but-certain candidacy for mayor is getting more interesting with the news that Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate also wants to be mayor. Her attendance at the event Monday including Trump cutouts and MAGA-themed Santa hats is raising questions from some Detroit residents and supporters in the days ahead of her scheduled Dec. 10 “special announcement.” If she were to win that race, Sheffield would become the city’s first female mayor and the first city councilperson to reach the mayor’s office in decades.

Kallabat, well-known across the city’s entertainment scene for throwing lavish parties for some of the area’s biggest names, removed the photo of her and Sheffield as well as some videos containing Trump themed displays and cutouts present inside the event after I – and several others – Tweeted her photo side by side with the council president. It appeared Sheffield was wearing a laminated lanyard — which featured an image of Leaf and Bud CEO Mark Savaya, Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance — similar to what other attendees photographed were wearing but tucked hers away in the now-deleted photo with Kallabat.

It wasn’t clear after my 10 pm phone call with Sheffield whether she attended the annual holiday party knowing there was a Trump theme. But her urgency in contacting me by email and phone signaled a feeling the optics weren’t ideal. She said she felt people were misconstruing her presence at the event as support for the incoming Republican president, she said, adding that “people of all backgrounds” were present.

“I did not go there to celebrate Trump,” Sheffield said. “I was on the main stage, pushing for Kamala at events, on the streets.”