[22][23] After being heckled by delegates for refusing to commit to endorsing the winner of the convention, Erlandson left the building and decided to run in the primary anyway.

Ellison and Erlandson were joined by state senator Ember Reichgott Junge and Minneapolis City Councillor Paul Ostrow in the primary race, along with several minor candidates.

[26] However, Ellison's campaign suffered from numerous controversies, such as revelations that he had failed to pay back parking tickets, and that in the early 90s he had written articles praising the Nation of Islam.

[39] However, by May 3, both had dropped out, with Turnham citing "some unfortunate circumstances" as his reason for doing so,[40] paving the way for business consultant Alan Fine to receive the party's nomination.

[53] Fine's campaign was also wracked by allegations that he had abused his former wife in 1995, first revealed in a story by Star Tribune reporter Rochelle Olson.

[55][56] Lee capitalized on Ellison's controversies by securing endorsements from a coalition of Minnesota Democrats, including Kathleen Anderson, Sabo's long-time district director.

[59] As the campaign continued, Lee was widely considered to be in second place, and several Republican officials attempted to convince Fine to drop out of the race in order to prevent the anti-Ellison vote from being split, but he refused.

[61] Fine strongly criticised the media's coverage of the race, stating that they had not covered Ellison's controversies enough and that they were not discussing the political positions of the candidates.

[52] During the primary run, departing Representative Sabo had endorsed and donated money to the campaign of his longtime chief of staff, Mike Erlandson.

[62] Sabo donated funds to the general election campaigns of many Minnesota Democrats, including Coleen Rowley, Patty Wetterling, Tim Walz, and Amy Klobuchar, but none to Ellison.

[67] Pond was not invited to the Beth El debate, though he did attend it as a member of the audience, and upon seeing him Ellison and Lee escorted him onto the stage in order for him to participate.

[56] Shortly prior to the fourth debate, which was held by several student groups at the University of Minnesota, Julian Santana, who was running a write-in campaign for the seat as the nominee of the Socialist Workers Party, unexpectedly showed up, and was allowed to participate.

[77] After his victory, Ellison was denounced by users on the salafist message board Al-Hesbah, who deemed him "the first Jewish Muslim that goes to Congress" and "[a] one-way ticket to hell".