MANCHESTER, NH – Current Ward 8 school board member Jessica Spillers on Thursday filed her paperwork to run for mayor in the 2025 municipal election.
A crowd of supporters gathered outside City Hall just before 4 p.m. as Spillers then made her way through the corridor to the City Clerk’s office where she made it official.
Afterwards her supporters chanted “Yes to Jess, yes to Jess,” as she made her way back to the City Hall courtyard to stand with her family and field a few questions.
Spillers, who is a social worker, said she decided to run after she lost faith in Mayor Jay Ruais’ leadership, around the time he made the decision to cut $9.5 million from the school district budget.
“I tried to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt and to hope that, as a young person himself, that he would be able to relate to the priorities of the middle class here. He hasn’t done that,” Spillers said. “And in that moment I knew I had to do more. I had to step up in some other way – and this is the best way to do that right now.”
Among those who came out to support Spillers was Ward 3 Alderman Pat Long.
“I think it’s fantastic that we have a competitive race. I don’t think it’s good for the city to just have one candidate,” Long said. “I’m anxious to see what happens. I mean, anybody has a chance – that’s why you put your name in. Now we have two candidates; let Manchester decide.”
Ward 4 Alderman Christine Fajardo said she sees in Spillers soeone who is embedded in the community through service.
“I feel she really understands that sense of community that we really need to nurture and grow. Frankly, Jay’s been divesting consistently in this city, on multiple levels, but first and foremost financially,” Fajardo said. “Somebody who’s committed to the community and who’s committed to the future in the way that he says he is doesn’t spend money in that way. It’s like a cheap campaign promise tactic to have to stay below the tax cap while our sidewalks and streets crumble, our DPW have been underfunded by millions of dollars.”
June Trisciani, who ran in the 2023 mayoral primary, said she is enthusiastically endorsing Spillers for mayor.
“I’m so proud of Jess and what she’s doing. I think she’ll be a great candidate. Her background in health and human services, in social work, the state and health and human services. She’s going to bring a lens to the city with a whole view of what needs to be done,” Trisciani said.
Fellow Board of School Committee member Leslie Want said she’s impressed with Spillers’ qualifications.
“She has a master’s degree in social work with a concentration in child and family welfare. She’s worked with homeless veterans, in community mental health, at the Manchester public defender and now with the state as a SNAP program specialist, so I thin she’s eminently qualified to be mayor – more so than the current person in the office,” Want said.
Spillers said one of the issues she’s most focused on in her campaign is affordable housing.
“We do really have a housing crisis here and people are being priced out of their homes. They’re being priced out of the community that they love. And we need to find a way to stabilize that,” Spillers said.
“Jay made promisses about that and he hasn’t fulfilled it,” she said.
“I’m worried about the social and the physical infrastructure of the city – you know, your everyday things like roads and sidewalks. But also, things like childcare. Things like having access to healthcare and welfare when you need it,” Spillers said. “We’ve had a huge economic boom in the city, which is wonderful, and in order for that to continue and for us to move forward into the future as a city we need to balance that out by looking at some of those other services that have been neglected.”
As Spillers greeted supporters and fielded questions from the media, her husband Jimmy stood off to the side chasing down the couple’s three children, Roxanne, 5, Quorra, 2 and Tucker, 6 months. He says he wasn’t surprised that his wife decided to run for mayor.
“More and more people have come up to her over the past couple of weeks saying she should think about running. The things that keep her up at night are not the typical things, it’s like, ‘What can I do to make this city better? What can I do to make this city better for my girls?,” he said. “She has that fire within her to make her want to make a difference for the city and the people within it.”
Other filings
In other next-to-last day of filing highlights, Bill Mortimer filed his candidacy for Ward 1 Alderman, making it a three-way race so far against Bryce Kaw-uh and Kevin Cavanaugh.
Mortimer has been a longtime Hudson firefighter and serves on the fire commission in Manchester. He also serves as a member of the National Disaster Medical System, a civilian response team that provides public health services during national disasters.
In Ward 8 Cristina Goodwin filed for Alderman, making that a three-way contest so far as well, with opponents, incumbent Ed Sapienza and Clyde Perezcastaneda.
In Ward 11, Amanda Higgins was added to the ballot for School Board.
And in Ward 12, former State Rep. Julie Smith filed to run for School Board.
And finally, Joe Gallagher, a longtime poll worker for Ward 9, stopped by to let the clerk’s office know he was not going to be part of the Election Day team this year.
“I lived in Ward 9 for 41 years and even after moving to Ward 3, I always went back to do whatever was needed,” said Gallagher.
But with all the recent changes in election law and procedures, Gallagher said he’d rather sit it out.
He said instead, this Election Day, you will find him at the Bridge Cafe with his buddies.
The updated list of candidate filings is below. Filing period ends July 26 at 5 p.m.