Who are Sean Duffy’s children? Great American Road Trip star says Harvard would “corrupt” daughter

On Wednesday, the United States Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy released his long-awaited family road trip reality series, Great American Road Trip, on YouTube, with the comment section turned off, months after it was scheduled to come out.

The show follows Duffy, his conservative TV host wife Rachel Campos, both 54, and their nine children as they take a road trip across the country. In one of the episodes, they are all in Boston looking at colleges for their daughter Paloma Pilar. Ahead of the trip, Sean asks Paloma while standing in their kitchen:

“Let’s say you got into Harvard. Would you be pushing us to actually have you go?”

The teenager replies, “Probably,” before adding that if she indeed gets in, she feels like nobody should say no to an Ivy League college. The politician adds that he and Paloma’s mother “can say no.” After a while, the father returns and tells his daughter:

“Listen, my problem is, we have thought about how we raised you, and how hard we’ve worked to, I think, raise, what is a remarkable young girl. If I send you there, I think what happens is they have professionalized figuring out how they can take good, young girls like you and, I think, corrupt their minds...”

Besides Paloma Pilar, Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos have eight more children: Valentina StellaMaris, Patrick Miguel, Margarita Pilar, Maria-Victoria Margarita, John-Paul, Lucia-Belen, Xavier Jack, and Evita Pilar. They are aged between 6 and 26.

At another point in the road trip series, Sean Duffy is seen telling Campos:

“Catholicism to us is everything. It's the basis of our marriage. It's the basis of our family. So, I'm nervous about the idea of Paloma going to Harvard.”

What we know of Sean Duffy’s children

Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos welcomed their first child, Evita Pilar, in October 1999, the same year they got married. Their daughter graduated with a history degree from the University of Chicago in 2022. That same year, Evita tied the knot with her high school sweetheart, Michael Alfonso, who is a Republican political candidate from Wisconsin and a podcast producer. They welcomed their firstborn in May 2026.

The now-26-year-old daughter is the co-founder and managing director at the Chicago Thinker. She previously worked as an intern at The Federalist.

Duffy and Campos’ eldest son, Xavier Jack, arrived in November 2001. He is now a Los Angeles-based cinematographer and enthusiast. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is affiliated with the Young Americans for Freedom.

According to his website, Jack has been making videos and short films since he was 11. He and his wife Kaylinn are frequent collaborators and share a daughter named Lourdes.

Lucia-Belen, born in April 2004, graduated from the University of Dallas in May 2026 and is now on her way to becoming an elementary school teacher. Rachel Campos celebrated her daughter’s milestone with an Instagram post. It was captioned:

“Every graduation reminds me how fast time flies with our children. Yesterday our little Lucia was playing pirates in the backyard with her siblings. Parents with little ones: relax & take it all in. You can’t get this back. Happy graduation, Lucia! So proud of your decision to go to @universityofdallas & become an elementary school teacher. It’s truly God’s work!”

John-Paul arrived in 2006. He graduated from high school in June 2025. At the time, his mother took to Facebook and shared pictures from the graduation ceremony.

“The best part of John-Paul’s HS graduation was witnessing how deeply loved he is by his siblings. Congratulations to the kindest-hearted boy in the world- our sweet JP!” Sean Duffy’s wife wrote in her caption.

It remains unknown which university JP enrolled in.

Sean Duffy and his Fox News host wife welcomed Paloma Pilar in May 2008. According to her Instagram, she took admission at the University of Chicago earlier this year, probably after the road trip series was filmed.

It remains unclear whether she got through Harvard. However, on the Great American Road Trip, Sean Duffy states that Paloma didn’t share his political views and while he thinks it’s important to be “exposed” to varied notions, he didn’t consider Harvard to be the right place to do so.

Meanwhile, Paloma Pilar was heard saying:

“But I went to an extremely conservative school in high school and I’m part of an extremely conservative family. And that if I go to a liberal setting, that’s a way more rounded education.”

Sean Duffy responded:

“I don’t think the Harvards of the world give you that kind of well-rounded picture... You’ll see young people go to a conservative school with a conservative family and they get perverted and contorted.”

The former NASA acting administrator and his wife welcomed their sixth-born, MariaVictoria Margarita, in April 2010. The 16-year-old daughter is now a high-school freshman.

Not much is known about Margarita Pilar, now aged 12. In May 2021, Rachel Campos shared a picture of her seventh child posing in front of a huge birthday cake. The Instagram post was captioned:

“Margarita just turned 7 and she got the Barbie birthday cake I always wanted when I was a little girl!”

In June 2016, Sean Duffy and his missus announced in a joint Facebook post the birth of their eighth child, Patrick Miguel.

“Meet Patrick Miguel Duffy! He was born Sunday at 1:03 pm & weighed 5.13 lbs. I know he is baby #8, but this ‘new life’ thing never gets old!!! And the kids can't get enough of him… Welcome to the family, baby Patrick. It's gonna be a wonderful life!” the caption read.

In October 2019, their ninth child, Valentina StellaMaris, arrived a month early. Before that, Duffy resigned as the U.S. Representative of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District after he discovered that his newborn had a heart defect and needed surgery. Back then, he announced:

“This is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby and family need right now.”

Rachel Campos called Valentina “the sweetest, most perfect angel we have ever seen” in her Instagram post and said the baby remained in the NICU and was “doing great” despite her ailments, which also included Down Syndrome. Meanwhile, the father revealed Valentina needed surgery in three to four months to fix two holes and damaged valves in her heart. But they were hopeful of a full recovery.

In June this year, Sean Duffy came under fire after he used the word “l*btards” during his speech at the Great American State Fair while his entire family accompanied him on stage. He attempted to slam the artists who declined to perform at the MAGA event and stated:

“I think we have to give a big round of applause for our military band and singers… way better than those l*btards that canceled on us.”

Social media users called out Sean Duffy and reminded him that the term was derogatory and often used to refer to those with developmental disabilities. However, given that his youngest kid had Down Syndrome, he shouldn’t have used it and “insulted” his own kin.

The attorney turned politican defended himself by telling The Independent:

“I will not be lectured by the same people who want to abort babies with special needs. Rather than policing language, maybe liberals should spend time with these beautiful children, acknowledge their humanity, and while they're at it, try loving their country more than they hate President Trump.”

During his speech at the fair kicking off the 250th Independence Day celebration, Sean Duffy encouraged the youth to “get married and have lots of kids,” adding that they are often “lied to” about how to lead a fulfilling life.

Trending

Earlier this month, Sean Duffy told NewsNation that his family reality show was delayed from June to come into “compliance with all of the ethics rules” of the government.

Ahead of its release, Democrats in the U.S. Congress raised concerns that the series was funded by companies that were in direct business with the federal transportation regulators. Sponsors included United Airlines, Boeing, and Royal Caribbean. Meanwhile, the video description on YouTube reveals it was funded by independent nonprofit organizations.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback