It is located in North-eastern Osaka and covers the cities of Neyagawa, Daitō and Shijōnawate.
The first incumbent was Democrat Shinji Tarutoko who was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 in the 7th district for the Japan New Party.
After the electoral reform, he won the new single-member 12th district three times in a row before losing it to Kitagawa in 2005.
In the landslide Democratic victory of 2009, Tarutoko regained the 12th district by a solid margin.
Kitagawa died mid-term on 26 December 2018,[2] triggering a by-election in April 2019.