This election was the first primary (and first contested primary) for the office in Minnesota history.
Smith was an attorney, former Chippewa County Attorney (1888-1890), former two-term Lieutenant Governor (1899-1903), and Assistant Attorney General (1909-1911) who was appointed Attorney General by Governor A.O. Eberhart on January 1, 1912 after the resignation of George Simpson.
Fraser was an attorney from Rochester, candidate for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1918, and nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1924.