The mid-decade redistricting resulted in the election of George H. W. Bush, a former chairman of the Harris County Republican Party and the son of former Connecticut U.S. senator Prescott Bush, and who unsuccessfully sought the state's Class 1 Senate seat against Democrat Ralph Yarborough in 1964.

Bush would go on to hold the district for two terms before making an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in 1970, losing to Lloyd Bentsen who defeated Yarborough in an upset in the Democratic primary.

Following a controversial 2004 mid-decade redistricting, the district lost Katy and the immediate Barker Reservoir, while also gaining some neighborhoods surrounding Jersey Village and (most penultimately) a southwest section of Houston that encompassed Rice University, the center-right inner suburbs of Bellaire and West University Place, the historically Jewish neighborhood of Meyerland and the historically liberal Montrose area.

The latter portion made up the political base of freshman Democratic congressman Chris Bell's 25th district, and historically had not been associated with the 7th during Archer's tenure.

District residents' favoritism towards free trade and comprehensive immigration reform clashed with Trump's populist stances on these issues.

For the 2022 elections, in order to protect surrounding Republican incumbents, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature redrew the 7th into a heavily Democratic district connecting northern portions of Fort Bend County (including western parts of Sugar Land with largely Asian-American populations) with much of the Westpark Tollway corridor of southwest Houston and Harris County (including the Alief and Mission Bend areas), along with much of inner western Houston inside Loop 610 including portions of the Heights, Midtown, Montrose, Meyerland, Braeswood Place and Timbergrove Manor neighborhoods, as well as The Galleria, Greenway Plaza and the "island suburbs" of Bellaire, West University Place and Southside Place.

Most of the 7th's longtime constituency in west Houston, including Memorial City, the Energy Corridor and its entire stretch of the Katy Freeway, as well as the Memorial Villages, Memorial Park, the River Oaks neighborhood and its share of the Greater Katy area, was moved over to the newly drawn 38th District that is expected to strongly favor Republicans, while many of the areas near the Addicks Reservoir (home to large numbers of middle-class Hispanics) were moved into the 8th District.

In 2008, Culberson defeated wind energy executive Michael Skelly to win a fifth term with 56 percent of the vote, despite being vastly outspent by the latter in a surprisingly competitive race–the first that the district had seen in four decades.

The race was one of the most closely watched in the nation that year, with Fletcher consistently outraising Culberson throughout the general election.

However, Fletcher swamped him in the portions of southwest Houston that were added in the 2004 redistricting, as well as in the Hispanic-plurality Bear Creek area near the Addicks Reservoir that was heavily affected by flooding from Harvey.