Detroit City Council president Mary Sheffield, the lead fundraiser in the city’s mayor’s race, received a $5,000 campaign donation from Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson.
Sheffield came out on top of the field of candidates in the fundraising battle, posting more than $700,000, campaign finance records submitted last week show. Triumph Church pastor Solomon Kinloch and nonprofit leader Saunteel Jenkins raised just over $400,000 for their campaigns.
Read more from Michigan Chronicle: Detroit Mayoral Fundraising: Sheffield Has Cash Advantage Over Kinloch, Jenkins
The $5,000 from “Samuel Jackson” wasn’t the only donation Sheffield received from Hollywood actors.
Erika Alexander, who played Maxine Shaw in the sitcom Living Single, donated $250 to Sheffield’s campaign.
Black women leaders like Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley and former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams have acknowledged the impact Maxine Shaw’s role in the 90’s show had on them and other Black women pursuing careers in male dominated spaces. In the show, Alexander’s character played an attorney.
Earleatha “Cookie” Johnson donated $8,000 to Sheffield’s campaign. Johnson is the wife of Ervin “Magic” Johnson, the Lansing native and NBA legend.
Greg Mathis and his wife Linda Reese Mathis gave a combined $3,100.
More Sheffield donors from Los Angeles, California include Pistons chairman Arn Tellem and his wife, Nancy Tellem; Bernadette Leonard, the wife of retired boxer Sugar Ray Leonard; film producer Bryan Smiley.
Jackson also listed the address to his home in Beverly Hills. The 11,968 square foot single family home is a six beds, eight bath property.
Sheffield raked in $36,250 from people with addresses listed in and around Los Angeles, California, according to a review of campaign finance records.
Sheffield has raised over $1.2 million since forming her campaign committee more than a year ago. She led all candidates in the most recent campaign finance reporting period that ended July 20, raising $737,176 since Jan. 1.
“I am deeply humbled by the widespread and growing support our campaign continues to receive. Every day, a broad cross-section of Detroiters — longtime residents, new neighbors, small businesses, major employers and people who simply love this city — are choosing to invest in our vision for a Detroit where we all can rise together,” Sheffield said in a statement. “This campaign has always been rooted in the belief that we can go further and achieve more when we do it together — and together, we will.”
