The election for this seat was for a six-year term.
Munn was the eighth Railroad / Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner to lose at the ballot box following Anti-Monopolist Alonzo Edgerton in 1875, Republican-turned-Prohibitionist William Marshall in 1881, Democratic-People's nominees Peter Rindal and Thomas Knox in 1900, Republican Christian Laurisch in 1934, Republican Frank Matson in 1936, and Farmer-Laborite Harold Atwood in 1938.
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, nominee for U.S. Senate in 1934, and independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 1936.
Cosgrove was a resident of Minneapolis, cashier for the Great Northern Railway, Democratic nominee for Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner in 1936, 1938, and 1942, DFL nominee for Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner in 1944, and DFL candidate for Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner in 1946.