Holmberg was a farmer from Renville, former state Representative (HD 22, 1907-1915), state Senator (SD 23, 1915-1919), Commissioner of Agriculture (1919-1931), candidate for Governor in 1930, nominee for an at-large U.S. House seat in 1932, and independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 1936. Holmberg would later win election to the Minnesota Railroad and Warehouse Commission (1940-1951).
Davis was an attorney from Minneapolis, former publisher, former Marshall County Attorney, former Mayor of Marshall (1910-1913), former state Representative (HD 13, 1917-1919), Farmer-Labor nominee for Attorney General in 1918, and Farmer-Labor candidate for Governor in 1924 and 1926.