The district includes all of Adams, Brown, Pike, Clermont, Highland, Clinton, Ross, Pickaway, Hocking, Vinton, Jackson, Gallia, Meigs, Lawrence, and Scioto counties, as well as parts of Fayette county.

With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+25, it is the most Republican district in Ohio.

On August 2, 2005, elections were held to choose a United States representative to replace Rob Portman, who resigned his seat on April 29, 2005, to become United States Trade Representative.

Republican Jean Schmidt candidate defeated Democrat Paul Hackett in a surprisingly close election.

Schmidt defeated Democrat Victoria Wells Wulsin, a doctor from Indian Hill, in the November general election.