Kavel is named after Lutheran pastor August Kavel who migrated with approximately 250 people to South Australia from Germany in 1838, two years after the colony of South Australia was founded, seeking freedom from religious persecution. They, and later German immigrants and their descendants, have made a significant contribution to South Australia's development and culture.
Olsen was forced to retire from politics after being caught misleading the House, and was succeeded by Mark Goldsworthy, son of Roger. Mark held the seat until handing it to current member Dan Cregan in 2018. Cregan was elected as a Liberal member, but resigned from the party in October 2021 to sit as an independent. At the 2022 election, he was re-elected as an independent in a landslide. Cregan's two-candidate-preferred vote of 75.4 percent was the highest of any candidate, making Kavel the safest seat in the State.
The strong Family First Party vote of 15.7 percent at the 2006 election, the highest in the state, was due in part to their prominent local candidate, church minister Thomas "Tom" Playford V, son of former Premier Sir Thomas Playford, who had represented Gumeracha decades earlier. Tom Playford V had run as an independent in the 2002 election, achieving a primary vote of 19.4 percent.
