 In May 2008, he defeated the incumbent, Representative Sylvia Andersen, who took over the seat in 2006, at that year's GOP nominating convention and was the party's nominee in the general election for that cycle.Christensen was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives (District 48 in Sandy/Draper) in 2002.His committee assignments included Vice-Chair of Education, Budget Appropriations for Public Education, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice; Chair of Judicial Rules Review Committee and member of the Constitutional Revision Commission.