Jay Ruais: 'We have such an opportunity to grow'

The electronic clock has been ticking in the office of Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais since he was sworn in.

Counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds left in his term, a constant reminder of the need for urgency when attending to the daily machinations of New Hampshire’s largest city.

As the clock nears zero, Ruais, 40, looks back on the last two years with pride — Manchester named the third best-run American city of 2025 by WalletHub; a hot housing market; the crime rate down 15% — but he admits there’s more work to do.

He hopes voters allow him to reset the clock come January.

“One of the things that my parents taught me early on was that the easiest thing in the world to do is complain. What’s much harder is to roll up your sleeves and work with people to get things done,” Rua