The division is named after Sir Samuel Griffith, former politician and a principal author of the Constitution of Australia.

The 1939 Griffith by-election was nearly the sight of an upset, with the UAP/Country coalition government coming within five votes of taking the seat from the incumbent opposition Labor party.

However, on Humphreys' retirement and as Labor lost government in 1996, future Prime Minister Kevin Rudd failed to win the seat to the Liberal Party's Graeme McDougall by 1.5%.

Rudd steadily increased his margin at each successive election until 2010, reaching a peak of 62.3% of the vote in 2007 as he led Labor to government.

Similarly in 2020, the Greens won the state seat of South Brisbane from Labor, which overlaps with part of the electorate.