Democratic gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson is receiving support from a PAC funded by a variety of out-of-state organizations and a foreign-born, Illinois-based stock-trading millionaire despite positioning himself as a “clean money” candidate opposing rich “oligarchs”.
“The oligarchs who run this system want to work us to death. They want to monetize every moment of our lives and squeeze every dime out of our labor. That wheel they have us chasing all the damn time? We built it. On June 9th, we’re taking it back,” said Jackson in a social media post on May 29.
Jackson has also previously taken the “People’s Pledge,” saying that he will not take any “dark money” or any “corporate money into this race.”
Jackson’s vocal opposition to “oligarchs” and corporate money rings hollow after a look at his campaign finances and the finances of the Working Mainers First PAC supporting his candidacy.
William Connell and Allston Trading
According to his most recent campaign finance report with the Maine Ethics Commission–only current as of January 2026–Jackson’s campaign directly received $2,500 from William “Liam” Connell, an investment-firm founder and millionaire living in a $6 million mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Connell is also one of the largest contributors to the Working Mainers First PAC, whose explicit purpose is supporting Jackson’s bid for the Blaine House.
Connell donated $50,000 to the pro-Jackson PAC.
Connell is a member of the Patriotic Millionaires Research Center, a left-wing alliance of rich left-wing activists fighting to raise taxes, increase the minimum wage, and, ironically, to reduce the role of wealth and money in politics.
He has donated many thousands of dollars to left-wing PACs and candidates across both state and federal elections in his home state and across the country, suggesting that he is, in fact, one of the political oligarchs Jackson has vowed to oppose.
According to his bio on their website, Connell was born in Ireland and first moved to the U.S. at the age of 28, where he promptly began working on Wall Street. He founded “several algorithmic trading firms.”
“Right now, I am interested in strategic activism to counter the long-term campaign by the wealthy to hoard their wealth and power,” says his bio.
He founded the investment company Allston Trading, a stock trading and investment firm. According to his bio, he retired in 2013. The company was sold in 2021 and no longer exists as a distinct business entity.
That claim is, however, contradicted by campaign donor data, which shows that he was listed as a trader for Allston at least as recently as October 2018, and as the business’ CEO at least as recently as 2015, though other donations from those times do list him as being retired.
Allston itself has a checkered history. According to a 2025 report from Morningstar, the investment firm faced an investigation from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2014-2015, a special grand jury investigation from 2017-2018 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Chicago area, and a 2020 criminal probe from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Notably, the report claims that when the firm was purchased amid its string of controversies, the buyers “only extended offers to a minority of Allston’s former traders who met our rigorous standards.”
A Bloomberg report claimed that the criminal probe was evaluating the possibility of market manipulation committed by the firm, though an Allston spokesman told the outlet that they were not accused of illegal conduct and fully cooperated with the probe.
Allston has also faced civil lawsuits.
Working Mainers First
According to Working Mainers First’s 11-day pre-primary report, filed on May 29, the PAC has received a total of $543,000 in contributions.
The PAC has drawn hundreds of thousands from a variety of PAC arms of labor unions, nationally and locally, and some with seemingly no reason to donate to a Maine race.
The PAC drew $20,000 from the IBEW Local 1253 Cope Fund, $100,000 from the Massachusetts-based Elevator Construction Local 4 Peoples Action Committee, and $2,000 from the California Nurses Association Political Action Committee, among many other labor union-adjacent organizations.
Jackson has historically worked to draw support from labor unions.
In Maine, PACs are allowed to spend an unlimited amount in support of a candidate but are not meant to coordinate with the campaign of a candidate they support. If they do coordinate, the funds they used are meant to be considered as direct contributions to the candidate.
While it is impossible to determine how much, if any, direct coordination Jackson’s campaign has had with the Working Mainers First PAC, its principal officer has suspiciously close links with the candidate.
Max Rush, the PAC’s principal officer, works at the Portland-based FRAME Strategies, a public relations firm that helps run left-wing political campaigns.
Prior to his work with FRAME, Rush worked very closely with Jackson and served as his chief of staff from 2021-2024 when Jackson was serving as Maine State Senate President.
His prior close working relationship with Jackson raises questions about how separate his PAC really is from the candidate’s campaign.
The PAC’s authorized agent, Lora Haggard, is a partner at Blue Wave, a national consulting firm that specializes in campaign finance compliance and fundraising.
According to her bio, Haggard has served as the treasurer for four (unsuccessful) presidential campaigns, including Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT.) 2016 and 2020 runs.
