[35] Mary Lawrence, a doctor, also ran as a Democrat,[36] but dropped out before the primary.

Commentators wrote that the election was "likely to be one of the most-watched congressional races in the country," (MinnPost[46]), "expected to be one of the most competitive in the country", according to Roll Call newspaper,[47] and "seen as a prime target for Democrats to flip" according to The Atlantic.

[48] Area left-wing weekly City Pages described the campaign as resembling the 2016 presidential campaign, calling Lewis "an entrepreneur and media personality, whose blunt rhetoric is refreshingly honest to some, simply offensive to others", and describing Craig as "a tough female leader with moderate positions, ties to big business, and a penchant for pantsuits".

[49] In May 2016, the Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report changed its rating of the race from "pure tossup" to "tossup/tilt Democratic,"[50] with political analyst Nathan Gonzales writing that Craig "is probably to the left of the district in her ideology, but she has a good story to tell, is raising considerable money (she had $1.3 million in the bank at the end of March) and is solid as a candidate.

Representatives State legislators Labor unions Organizations Local officials Lewis ended up defeating Craig by several thousand votes.

Labor unions Organizations Newspapers Though Nolan's margin of victory (2,009 votes) was too large to trigger a publicly funded automatic recount, Mills, as of late November 2016, said that he planned to request and pay for a hand recount of all votes cast in the eighth district, as is his right under law.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota had not seen a recount in a race for the House of Representatives since 2000, when election day totals in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district fell within the half percentage point threshold, thus triggering a state-funded recount.

It is not known if Mills's request for a privately funded recount has precedent in Minnesota's electoral history, at least as it pertains to elections for the House of Representatives.