This November's Jersey City mayoral race will be a two-man contest, with just Mayor Steve Fulop and attorney Bill Matsikoudis facing off for the city's top job.

Yesterday was the final day for would-be candidates in the city's Nov. 7 mayoral race to file qualifying petitions to get their names on the ballot. The 4 p.m. deadline passed without a third candidate stepping forward.

This is the first time there have been only two mayoral candidates since 1973, when Paul Jordan and Thomas Gangemi Jr. went head to head.

Fulop, 40, is seeking his second term. He was elected mayor in 2013 after serving for two yerms as the city's Downtown councilman.

"When we took office the city was coming out of one of the largest corruption arrests in history, the police force was at an all-time low in manpower, parks were in disrepair and taxes had doubled," Fulop campaign spokeswoman Hannah Peterson said in a statement. "We are proud of how far we have moved Jersey City since then, and we look forward to continuing to build on this success for all residents, in all wards."

Matsikoudis, 45, was the city's corporation counsel under Jerramiah Healy, Fulop's predecessor. He and Fulop have a long history of battling over local issues, a rivalry that intensified as Matsikoudis became one of his chief critics.

"As we head into the homestretch, I am excited about conducting a positive issue-oriented campaign and explaining to voters our vision of how we can make Jersey City safer, more affordable and a better place to live for all of our residents," Matsikoudis said in an email.

Both men are Democrats.

Shuja Shabbir, who had signaled his intention to challenge Fulop, told the clerk's office yesterday that he had changed his mind.

The nonpartisan municipal election was moved to November from May after voters approved the switch last year. The mayoralty and all nine council seats are up for grabs.

The final list of council hopefuls is still being formulated, but it will not include Charles Mainor, the former state assemblyman who had previously said he would run for mayor, then last month announced he would seek the Ward A council seat instead. Yesterday, Mainor, 50, told the clerk's office he is withdrawing his name from consideration. Mainor could not be reached to comment.

In total at least 34 people will seek the nine council seats. Seven are vying for the three at-large seats and 27 are competing in the six ward races. Four additional would-be candidates have not had their petitions certified yet (each petition must have the signature of a registered Jersey City voter). One of them, Jessica Hellinger, 40, a loan officer who intends to run for the Ward B seat, dropped off her petitions yesterday about 15 minutes before the deadline.

Hellinger told The Jersey Journal she has been fielding questions from residents in recent weeks about whether she was in or out of the race and she waited to submit her petitions until yesterday afternoon in order to "let them ponder."

Does waiting until the final day help her chances?

"I don't know," she said. "Who knows?"

The day petitions are due is historically a busy day for the clerk's office, and yesterday was no different.

Council hopefuls and their campaign workers popped in throughout the day to submit petitions, at least four in the last 30 minutes before the deadline. Shabbir dropped off a case of paper to replace the paper the clerk's office used to give him 3,000 petitions he ended up not using. Gerry McCann, the former mayor, stopped by to file a public-records request to see if everyone who qualified for the ballot submitted signatures from legitimate registered voters (asked why, he said, "it gives me something to do").

About 10 minutes before 4 p.m., Sean Gallagher, the deputy clerk, popped his head into the clerk's office waiting room.

"Is it 4 o'clock yet?" he asked.