Maine Democrat Troy Jackson fathered two children with his second cousin and never legally married her, a new report says.
Jackson’s longtime significant other, Lana Pelletier — his high school sweetheart and the mother of his two adult sons, Chace and Camden — is, in fact, his second cousin by blood.
Jackson and Pelletier share the same great-grandparents: Thomas Pelletier and Edith Thibodeau. Thomas and Edith’s daughter Albertine was Troy’s grandmother; their son Louis Sr. was Lana’s grandfather.
The revelation comes from genealogical records first reported by journalist Steve Robinson.
Both are from Allagash, a small town in Aroostook County.
The tiny St. John River Valley town of Allagash (population 240) has long been the butt of Maine jokes about its handful of last names and family trees that don’t so much branch as tangle.
Second-cousin relationships are fully legal in Maine.
Jackson has not spoken publicly about the family connection, and his campaign continues to describe Pelletier as his partner.
The timing of the report caught observers by surprise.
Jackson secured the Democratic nomination on July 25 and will challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. He took over for Graham Platner, who won the June primary but abandoned his campaign after being accused of sexual assault.
Republicans have already seized on the story.
The revelation sparked widespread reaction online, with critics circulating the Maine Wire reporting across social media platforms within hours of publication.
Local tipsters in Allagash familiar with the families’ ancestry provided the initial lead to Robinson.
The couple raised two sons, Chace and Camden, though they never legally wed, and Maine grants no recognition to common-law unions. Jackson labeled Pelletier his “wife” in earlier biographies but now calls her his partner.
Campaign materials shifted language over time.
Lana Pelletier is a clinical care specialist at DHHS.
Because the pair never married and Maine recognizes no common-law status, it remains unclear whether Jackson must report Pelletier’s finances the way a spouse’s would be reported.
Financial disclosure rules could prove consequential going forward.
The relationship is close enough for small-town knowing glances, distant enough that the law and biology shrug.
Historical precedent exists in American politics.
Cousin coupling is practically a Founding-era tradition, practiced by figures far more exalted than a logger-lobbyist. John Adams, the second president, married Abigail Smith, his third cousin. Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, also his third cousin. Martin Van Buren wed Hannah Hoes, his first cousin once removed.
In Allagash, the extended family connections run deep through generations.
Jackson and Pelletier were both students at Fort Kent High School, she in 1982 and he in 1983.
The couple’s relationship spans decades and Jackson’s entire political career.
The pair has been together for Jackson’s entire political career, stretching from his early days as a pro-gun, pro-life, conservative working-class rabble-rouser in the late 1990s and early 2000s through his rise to become a pro-gun-control, pro-late-term-abortion advocate.
Their sons have grown into adulthood alongside Jackson’s rise.
Jackson served in the Maine Senate from 2008 to 2014 and 2016 to 2024, serving as its president and majority leader from 2018 to 2024.
The Senate race remains highly competitive.
The contest could decide control of the Senate, and Republicans have already committed more than $42 million to defeat Jackson through the Senate Leadership Fund.