Troy Jackson, the newly nominated Democratic challenger to Sen. Susan Collins, has been in a decades-long relationship with his high school sweetheart Lana Pelletier — who is also his second cousin, a new report says.
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson is in a long-term relationship with his high school sweetheart — who is also his second cousin, according to a new report.
Jackson, 58, and Lana Pelletier share two adult sons and the same great-grandparents, according to Thursday’s report by independent journalist Steve Robinson, who notes that such relationships are both legal under state law and not uncommon in the rural North Maine Woods region, near the Canadian border.
While Jackson, a onetime logger and the former president of the Maine State Senate, has described Pelletier as his wife in the past, locals tell Robinson the couple has never been legally married.
Jackson grew up in the village of Allagash (population 237 as of the 2020 census) and attended nearby Fort Kent High School with Pelletier.
According to genealogical records unearthed by Robinson, Jackson’s maternal grandmother — Albertine Pelletier O’Leary — and Pelletier’s paternal grandfather — Louis A. Pelletier Sr. — were siblings, making Jackson’s mother, Colleen McBreairty, and Pelletier’s father, Louis Jr., first cousins.
Since 1985, Maine law prohibits marriages to an individual’s parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, or uncles.
The law initially banned first cousin marriage, but an amendment passed two years later allows such unions if the would-be betrothed present a certificate of genetic counseling signed by a physician and certifying their potential children have an acceptably low risk of physical deformity or cognitive impairment.
Jackson was formally nominated at a special party convention July 25 to challenge incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins following the withdrawal of Graham Platner from the race due to allegations of rape by an ex-girlfriend.
Requests for comment from the Jackson campaign, the Maine Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were not immediately returned.
