[5] Rochdale is a constituency in the North West region of England, located in the east of Greater Manchester.

[19] In January 2023, Lloyd announced that he was undergoing chemotherapy after a diagnosis for cancer, and subsequently did not attend parliament or face-to-face functions under medical advice.

[20][21] On 11 January 2024, he stated that he had an untreatable form of leukaemia and had decided to end hospital treatment to spend his remaining time with his family.

[28] During the campaign, the Daily Mail obtained a recording of a meeting at which Ali suggested that Israel had allowed the 7 October offensive to go ahead, in order to "green light" an invasion of Gaza.

[29] Following information about other comments made by Ali,[30] Labour withdrew its support on 12 February, and the party announced it would no longer devote resources to his campaign.

[31][32] Prior to the withdrawal, Ali had received abuse for Labour's position on Israel, despite his own support for Palestine.

Danczuk was the Labour MP for Rochdale from 2010 until 2015, when he was suspended from the party after it emerged he had exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl.

He stated that his intention would be to hold the government to account over the NHS, cost of living crisis, and tolerance of water pollution.

One addressed issues most salient to Muslim voters, in particular focusing on the war in Gaza and using Arabic phrases such as "As-salamu alaykum" and "ummah", while the other highlighted "Galloway's record of backing Brexit, opposing Scottish independence and supporting family values".

[45][46][47][48] On 19 February, a Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2024 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election was suspended by the party after being photographed campaigning with Galloway.

[37] On 7 February, after derogatory social media posts on Gaza and the Muslim faith he had made between 2013 and 2015 came to light, the party announced that they were no longer endorsing his candidacy.

[61] The BBC reported that Green Party activists had been campaigning for Coleman, since their own candidate, Guy Otten, dropped out of the contest.

[65][44][66] Alluding to the size of his win, over the Labour and Conservative candidates, he said, "Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale.

[72] On 1 March, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held a press conference outside 10 Downing Street, at which he spoke about what he called the "shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality" in Britain.

During the conference he said, "And it's beyond alarming that last night, the Rochdale by-election returned a candidate that dismisses the horror of what happened on 7 October, who glorifies Hezbollah and is endorsed by Nick Griffin, the racist former leader of the BNP".

[74] Reform UK performed worse than its Brexit Party counterpart in 2019, although Danczuk did win enough votes to retain his deposit, unlike his run as an independent in 2017.

Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, alleged that the election was rigged and said that Danczuk had received several threats during the campaign.