Mayoral candidate Barb Higgins has her nomination papers stamped on Monday. (CBC)

The nomination papers for the Oct. 18 election are in, and those who acknowledge they're underdogs say they have time yet to come out on top.

Candidate Wayne Stewart, a retired Shell Canada executive, says that while he's put out a fiscal agenda, he's going to spend the next month talking about Calgary's social needs.

"Homelessness, domestic violence, and the support of arts and culture in our city … unless we attend to those, we're not going to have the great city that I think Calgary has got the potential to be," Stewart told CBC News.

Former alderman Craig Burrows said he felt perceived front-running candidates Barb Higgins and Ric McIver hadn't captured Calgarians support, and that plenty of voters are still shopping around.

"The undecided have told you that they don't want [those two] as mayor, so that's half the vote. So my job right now is to go after that," said Burrows. "We feel anywhere between 25 to 27 per cent of the electorate will win this election."

'This is a two-horse race'

McIver said with many voters not truly focused on the race yet, he's not about to get complacent.

"We're a long way from the finish line," he said. "I don't think anybody should take anything for granted yet and I certainly am not. I've got a lot of work to do and I intend to do it."

Higgins said there might be plenty of candidates in the running, but she's zeroing in on McIver.

"This is a two-horse race and we have another month to convince people who to vote for. And we have a huge undecided [vote] at this point, so what I hear from that is that people feel a little disconnected from this," she said.

Veteran alderman Bob Hawkesworth said he's not dropping out of the race, and that a lot can change in a month.

"This election is up for grabs."