Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, is firing back at scrutiny of his romantic partnership with his second cousin.
The Maine Wire first reported that Mr. Jackson, 58, and his partner Lana Pelletier, who have two sons together, share the same great-grandparents.
Mr. Jackson’s campaign decried the reporting as a politically motivated shot at his family.
“Susan Collins will do anything to distract from the fact that she votes with Trump 96% of the time and has sold out working people in Maine,” Jackson’s campaign told the New York Post in a statement referencing the state’s Republican incumbent. “Personal attacks on Troy’s family are shameful and desperate.”
According to genealogical records, the great-grandparents had a daughter who is Mr. Jackson’s grandmother, and a son who is Ms. Pelletier’s grandfather.
As a result, Mr. Jackson’s mother and Ms. Pelletier’s father are first cousins.
Mr. Jackson hails from Allagash, Maine, a town of 237 people as of 2020, which is close to the Canadian border.
He and Ms. Pelletier both attended the same high school in the remote, partially French-speaking region of Maine.
Mr. Jackson was propelled into the Senate race after the previous Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, 41, left the race due to a rape allegation.
Mr. Platner was also under fire for controversial online posts, as well as having had a tattoo that resembled a Nazi-linked symbol.
Having placed third in the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Mr. Jackson won over the support of a majority of delegates in a snap convention to replace Mr. Platner.
His political career began in 1998 as a leader of a blockade of the northern border to prevent Canadian loggers from competing with Americans.
First elected to the state’s Legislature as an independent, Mr. Jackson later switched to the Democratic Party.
He was a prominent Maine supporter of Vermont independent Sen. Bernard Sanders’ presidential campaigns, and led Democrats in the state Senate from 2016 to 2024.
In response to the reporting on Mr. Jackson’s relationship, the Maine Republican Party wrote in a social media post, “To everyone planning to call our office about this Troy Jackson news … we just had to say, NO, we do not know what’s wrong with [Maine Democrats], but it is only affecting them! The rest of us Mainers are still quite normal.”
Democrats need to net four additional seats in November to win control of the Senate.
As the only state Democrats won in the 2024 presidential election held by a Republican up for reelection, Maine is a key pickup opportunity.
The Cook Political Report, a political forecaster, rates it a toss-up.
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