New York City's special election for the position of public advocate is coming up on Tuesday, and as we've noted previously, it's an extremely unusual one: All candidates are running together on a single, nonpartisan ballot, and whoever gets the most votes wins without a runoff, no matter how small the plurality.

Even though a few hopefuls dropped out or didn’t qualify, a giant field of 17 contenders is swarming to fill this post (which became vacant when Democrat Tish James was elected state attorney general last year), in part because current office-holders don't have to give up their posts in order to run. In addition, every candidate is appearing on the ballot under a party line of their own creation, with names like "Livable City," "Unite Immigrants," and "No Amazon" (a label that has probably exceeded Assemblyman Ron Kim's wildest expectations)—“Democrat” and “Republican” not allowed.

Polling such a race is well-nigh impossible, but New York Magazine's David Freedlander reports that political operatives agree the two frontrunners are former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito ("Fix the MTA" party) and City Councilman Jumaane Williams ("It's Time Let's Go" ), whom we described as "[t]wo of the biggest Democratic names" when we last looked in on this contest. Both were once supporters of Mayor Bill de Blasio but have emerged as sharp critics, which is more or less the role of the public advocate, a position with few fixed duties.

In an election like this, though, truly anything can happen. The insiders who spoke with Freedlander suggest that Democratic Assemblyman Michael Blake ("For the People" ) is "running third," while "a half-dozen other members of the Council or the Assembly retain a semi-plausible path to victory." One notable Republican, City Councilman Eric Ulrich, is also running, and he could benefit from the fact that he’ll be identified as a member of the “Common Sense” party, rather than the GOP.

But whoever prevails won't necessarily get to hold the job for very long: Partisan primaries will be held in June, followed by a general election for the final two years of James' term. It's therefore eminently possible that some of the also-rans in next week's election could try again in just a few months.