Nagoya is considered a "Democratic kingdom" (minshu ōkoku), a stronghold of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). But Aichi's 5th district is the only electoral district in Nagoya (Aichi 1 to 5) that also contains areas outside Nagoya. In the landslide "postal privatization" election of 2005, it became the first district in Nagoya that the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could win since the introduction of single-member districts in 1996: Liberal Democrat Takahide Kimura won narrowly against the Democratic incumbent Hirotaka Akamatsu who was then only reelected in the Tōkai proportional representation block. Akamatsu had represented Aichi's 5th district since 1996 and regained the seat in the 2009 general election. He was Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Hatoyama Cabinet. In 2012, he lost the district by less than 2,000 votes to Liberal Democrat Kenji Kanda. Akamatsu regained the district in 2014 and held it until 2021.
