The election for this seat was for a six-year term. It marked the first time a Democratic or DFL nominee was elected to the office.
Johnson's loss was the tenth defeat by a Railroad / Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner 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, Farmer-Laborite Harold Atwood in 1938, Farmer-Laborite Charles Munn in 1940, and Republican Rollin Johnson in the 1944 GOP primary.
Peterson was a resident of Minneapolis, funeral director, and former vice president of the Minneapolis Park Board.