In 1984, Democratic Congressman Kent Hance did not run for a fourth term but instead ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for the United States Senate.

However, proving just how Republican this district had become at the national level, Combest was reelected nine times with no substantive Democratic opposition.

After the deaths of his father and a daughter within a short period of time, Combest announced his pending resignation on November 12, 2002 – a week after winning a tenth term.

Fellow Republican Randy Neugebauer won the special election to replace Combest and was sworn into office on June 3, 2003.

One of Combest's interns, Morgan Meyer, was in 2014 elected as a Republican to the Texas House of Representatives from District 108 in Dallas County.