[4] On June 24, Michigan Democratic Party chairman Lon Johnson declared his run for the seat.

[7] Casperson was challenged in the Republican primary by former state legislator Jason Allen, who announced he was running in January 2016,[8] and retired U.S. Marine Jack Bergman, who declared in March.

[32] Democratic state representative Gretchen Driskell, the former mayor of Saline, announced that she would run against Walberg in 2016,[33] as would Libertarian Ken Proctor.

They were former actress Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie) and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild, and Linda Keefe.

[29] Gilbert withdrew from the race in May 2016 due to health issues, and at that time Keefe did not appear to have collected enough valid petition signatures to be placed on the ballot.

[39] On July 6, 2016, Democrats introduced 29-year-old Suzanna Shkreli, an Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor to be the party's nominee.

[40] At the time of Shkreli's announcement, it was still unclear if Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson would allow Gilbert to be removed from the ballot.

[43] On August 22, 2016, the state board of canvassers allowed Gilbert's name to be replaced on the November ballot with that of Shkreli.

His Republican challenger was Christopher Morse, and his Libertarian opponent was Matt Orlando.

[49] State Senator Jack Brandenburg considered entering the race, but declared in January 2016 that he would not run.

[17][18] Kerry Bentivolio, who represented the 11th District from 2013 to 2015 and lost to Trott in the 2014 Republican primary, announced on July 21, 2016, that he planned to seek the seat as an independent after losing to Osment in the Libertarian convention.

Jeff Jones was the Republican challenger, a Taylor resident, a former independent United States Senate candidate in 2014.

Detroit and City Clerk Janice Winfrey ran against Conyers in the Democratic Party primary election.