BOSTON — Records show Boston Mayor Michelle Wu dipped into her $1.4 million campaign war chest to pay for last year’s controversial “electeds of color” holiday party, but did not use taxpayer funds as previously speculated and initially considered.

A series of emails, obtained by the Herald via a public records request, show that while city officials from the mayor’s administration were responsible for planning an exclusive holiday party hosted by Wu at the city-owned Parkman House, the event was ultimately paid out of her campaign coffers — which continue to grow given her prior remarks that it is “very” likely she will seek a second term.

While city funds were not ultimately used, the emails reveal that was not always the chosen case, with the mayor’s intergovernmental relations department — which sent the mistaken email invite to white city councilors that went viral after it was first reported by the Herald — initially set to pick up the tab.

“For the electeds of color party on 12/13, we’re expecting 20-25 people,” Ellen Quinn, the mayor’s director of state relations for the intergovernmental relations department, wrote on Nov. 16.

“I checked with Miriam in our office and IGR can pay for the food for that party, IGR can handle the electeds invites for both 12/13 and 12/14, but confirming that we don’t have to actually do any of the food ordering.”

Ultimately however, the city’s IGR department did not pay for the food.

Emails between city officials indicated that food from a Chinatown restaurant would be purchased for the event, but it’s unclear whether that was the case as there were no relevant campaign expenditures in November, when planning began, and December, the month the party took place.

A spokesperson for the mayor, however, confirmed that campaign funds were used for the electeds of color party.

The mayor’s campaign coffers list a number of holiday party-related campaign expenditures, totaling more than $17,000, including $3,334 on Nov. 16 for Gourmet Caterers, which city officials described as being booked for two separate events in emails discussing the electeds of color and the general holiday party that is open to all city and state officials.

The Herald previously reported that the Attorney General’s office had received four complaints for the Dec. 13 bash that disinvited white councilors by email, but deemed that it did not appear to violate the public accommodation law — which prohibits discrimination in public places — since it was not open to the public.

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