Good morning on this roasting Thursday.

The clock to the primary is ticking: We’re exactly one week out.

And with that, four candidates to be New York’s next attorney general — all of whom you’ll see on the ballot next Thursday, Sept. 13 — will face off tonight in their final debate.

Our Albany bureau chief, Jesse McKinley, gave us the rundown of what’s at stake in the race and why the post is so vital — particularly now.

“The traditional purpose of the attorney general is to defend the state in the legal arena,” Mr. McKinley told us. “As we’ve crept into modernity, that mandate has broadened with the political ambitions of whoever has held that office.”