This election was for a six-year term.
Lindquist was a Minneapolis attorney who was appointed to the office by Governor Luther Youngdahl on June 21, 1949 following the death of Commissioner Frank Matson on May 29, 1949. Lindquist announced his intention to resign in December 1951 and resigned effective May 31, 1952. Governor C. Elmer Anderson appointed Elling Knutson of St. Paul to fill the vacancy. Knutson was an attorney and the assistant bus and truck supervisor of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission.
McCarthy was a political unknown from Lakeville and sacker and handyman at Consumers Soy Bean Mill.