MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez is running out of opportunities to mount a serious challenge against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s anointed successor, trailing by a wide margin in polling just five weeks before election day.

On Sunday, in the second of three debates against front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum, she’ll look to mount a comeback.

Galvez, a senator who has a gift for sharp-edged remarks about Lopez Obrador, garnered enough attention last year to win the backing of three of the four major opposition parties. But her support among voters has stagnated, in part due to her coalition’s disorganized strategy and her own fumbles. The second debate, with the June 2 vote rapidly approaching, is one of the final chances she has before a national audience to reset her image as a serious contender.

“She had an opportunity three weeks ago and she failed dramatically, so this is her last shot,” said Carlos Perez Ricart, an assistant professor in international relations at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics. “She will have to use it very intelligently.”

Bloomberg’s Polling Tracker showed a 28-point gap between Galvez and Sheinbaum as of Friday, with 32% of voters saying they would support the opposition candidate. A third candidate, Jorge Alvarez Maynez, lags far behind.

Sheinbaum came to the role with the firm endorsement of the president, which has helped her popularity. She’s less charismatic than her mentor and has worked to court sectors that might not generally support his leadership, telling business leaders about her energy transition plans and growth strategies in states that are less supportive of the current administration.

But the upcoming debate, scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday in Mexico City, may play to Galvez’s strengths.

The candidates will be discussing economic growth, employment and inflation — topics that could give Galvez more room to pitch herself as the pro-business candidate. She has criticized Lopez Obrador for his handling of the energy sector and failures to improve security conditions.

A campaign staffer working for an aide to Galvez said preparations for the first debate were rigorous but focused too heavily on statistics for the candidate to recite. This time, the staffer added, she’ll need to speak from the heart, which is how she connects best with viewers.

It will be an opportunity, and at the same time a challenge, for Galvez to improve her strategy of pointed criticism that has shown signs of backfiring. She gained a following by dressing up as a dinosaur in the Senate to point out how backwards the ruling party’s ideas were and demanding the right to march into the president’s press conference for equal time. But commentators have pointed to Sheinbaum’s unflappable demeanor as more presidential. (Galvez called her “The Ice Queen” in the previous debate.)

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