Voting by party members for the leadership occurred at a free in-person convention as well as remotely via phone and internet connected device and used a ranked ballot system.

Elected in 2018 as a Progressive Conservative, he served in the Higgs government as Deputy Premier (2018–2020), Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, and Minister responsible for La Francophonie (2018–2020) before resigning from cabinet and the PC caucus in February 2020 in protest of the government's health reforms.

Susan Holt is a Fredericton tech executive, the former President of the New Brunswick Business Council, and a former advisor to Premier Brian Gallant.

After being the frontrunner for most of the campaign, Byrne failed to meet the May 2 deadline to pay the $30,000 entrance fee and submit the required 50 signatures of Liberal members willing to support him and was disqualified from the race.

The main issue was that Byrne had initially paid the $30,000 entrance personally and he did not have the time to source the funds from third parties during the two-day extension period.