Maine Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Troy Jackson has been in a longtime relationship with the woman he dated in high school — and she is also his second cousin, according to a newly published report.
Jackson, 58, and Lana Pelletier have two grown sons together and share the same great-grandparents, independent journalist Steve Robinson reported Thursday. Robinson also noted that second-cousin relationships are legal in Maine and are not considered unusual in parts of the rural North Maine Woods near the Canadian border.
Although Jackson, a former logger who went on to serve as president of the Maine State Senate, has previously referred to Pelletier as his wife, people in the community told Robinson that the pair have never been legally married.
Jackson was raised in the small village of Allagash, which had a population of 237 in the 2020 census. Both he and Pelletier graduated from nearby Fort Kent High School.
Genealogical records cited by Robinson show that Jackson’s maternal grandmother, Albertine Pelletier O’Leary, and Pelletier’s paternal grandfather, Louis A. Pelletier Sr., were siblings. That family connection made Jackson’s mother, Colleen McBreairty, and Pelletier’s father, Louis Jr., first cousins.
Under Maine law, marriages have been barred since 1985 between people and their parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles or first cousins.
A 1987 change to the law created a narrow exception for first cousins, allowing them to marry if they provide a physician-signed certificate showing they received genetic counseling and that any potential children face a low risk of physical deformity or cognitive impairment.
Jackson was officially chosen at a special party convention on July 25 to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins after Graham Platner exited the race following rape allegations made by a former girlfriend.
Requests for comment from the Jackson campaign, the Maine Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were not immediately returned.
