Before the 1994 House of Representatives electoral reform, Sapporo city had been part of the six-member 1st district that covered Ishikari and Shiribetsu subprefectures.

In the 2009 general election, Yokomichi's main challenger was LDP's Gaku Hasegawa, who lost the race and also failed to win a proportional seat, but went on to become Councillor for Hokkaidō in 2010.

In 2005, Muneo Suzuki's regionalist New Party Daichi nominated ski jumper Masahiro Akimoto in the district.

In 2000, former Olympic weightlifter and current Hokkaidō assemblyman Nobuyuki Hatta ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for Ichirō Ozawa's Liberal Party.

In 2012, Olympic speed skater Hiroyasu Shimizu ran for the district as a member of the New Party Daichi – True Democrats.