Since the electoral reform that took place prior to the 1996 election, Takumi Nemoto of the LDP was continuously elected. The exceptions to this came in 2003, when challenger Teruhiko Mashiko, who was the primary opponent for Nemoto up to 2009 under the New Frontier Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, made his margin of defeat close enough to be elected proportionally. However, he lost the seat in 2005, and did not mount another challenge thereafter. Mashiko instead ran for the House of Councillors.
Nemoto's only defeat in the SMD came in the 2009, when newcomer Kazumi Ota ousted him. Nemoto was not resurrected proportionally. However, Ota defected from the DPJ to People's Life First and then the Tomorrow Party of Japan. As the Tomorrow Party was smashed nationwide in 2012, Ota was routed to third by a Japan Restoration Party candidate as Nemoto returned and safely defeated the other candidates.
He held the district in 2014 and 2017, both times defeating Koki Okabe who was in the DPJ and then merged into Kibō no Tō. The district began to change in 2021, when Yuki Baba, of the CDP (for the first time in the district), challenged Nemoto. While still losing by about nine points, he managed to get revived on the proportional list. This also made Baba, along with Shin Tsuchida, the first members of the Diet to be elected that were born in the Heisei era.
The 2022 redistricting changed the district, moving Nihonmatsu and some rurals areas out of the district and including Sukagawa along with Tamura. Nemoto opted to retire and his son, Taku Nemoto, prepared to run in the 2024 election. However, the CDP opted to have Kōichirō Genba move from the 3rd district to the 2nd, while Baba agreed to run as the number one candidate on the proportional list. Genba safely defeated Taku and a JCP candidate with a majority, as the junior Nemoto was revived proportionally.
