This is The Sprint for City Hall, a limited-run series on the critical Democratic primary race for mayor.

Seven of the Democratic candidates for mayor will face off at 7 p.m. Thursday in the primary’s second and final debate, as the race seems to be narrowing to a two-person contest.

Hi, I’m Dean Chang, the editor running The New York Times’s coverage of the mayoral primary. This week’s parade curiosity: Does anyone actually use any of the four pockets on a guayabera shirt?

In this edition of the newsletter, we’ll go over some of the race’s most surprising late-stage developments, and hear from two candidates who appeared in last week’s debate but will not take part in this week's.