Mary Sheffield

She married Rickey Jackson Jr. in December 2025. Jackson is a program manager for a nonprofit organization and the brother of WNBA player Rickea Jackson.

Sheffield's family includes her father, Horace Sheffield III, a civil rights activist and pastor at New Destiny Christian Fellowship Church.

Sheffield grew up on Detroit's west side. She earned a bachelor's degree in public affairs from Wayne State University in 2008 and a master's degree in public administration from Central Michigan University.

While attending college, she met Benny Napoleon, then the sheriff of Wayne County. Napoleon recruited her to work in the county jail system as a disciplinary hearing officer. Sheffield ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 Democratic primary for a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, and by 2013 she was serving as co-pastor of New Destiny Christian Fellowship Church.

Sheffield won election to represent Detroit's fifth district in 2013. At age 26, she became the youngest person ever elected to the Detroit City Council. She won reelection in 2017 and again in 2021, when she faced no opposition.

In January 2022, council members elected Sheffield president over Mary D. Waters, succeeding Brenda Jones. She became the youngest person ever to hold the presidency. During her council career, she served as chair of the Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee and as a member of the Planning and Economic Development and Budget Finance and Audit Standing Committees.

Her legislative and civic initiatives included Inclusionary Housing, Property Tax Reform, Community Input Over Government Surveillance, home repair grant funding, the Neighborhood Improvement Fund, the Neighborhood Beautification Program, the Homeowner Property Tax Exemption, Right to Counsel, and the Detroit Reparations Taskforce. She also helped establish the Detroit Girls of Destiny mentoring program.

Sheffield formed an exploratory committee for the 2025 Detroit mayoral election in August 2023 and announced her candidacy in December 2024 after incumbent mayor Mike Duggan decided not to seek another term. She placed first in the primary election and advanced to the general election against Solomon Kinloch Jr.

Sheffield defeated Kinloch and became the first woman elected mayor of Detroit. She was sworn in on January 1, 2026, succeeding Duggan.

Her campaign emphasized investment in underserved neighborhoods and commercial corridors. She also called for improved public transit, neighborhood safety measures focused on prevention, stronger community and police relations, and treating gun violence as a public health crisis.

Sheffield was born into a family with a history of political and civil rights activism. Her father, Horace Sheffield III, served as co-chair of the Michigan Democratic Party's Community Democratic Caucus and launched a congressional campaign in 2014.

Her grandfather, Horace Sheffield Jr., helped create the United Auto Workers Inter-Racial Committee and was involved in civil rights work with Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph. Sheffield invoked her grandfather's role in Detroit's civil rights history during her mayoral victory speech.