The Texas Supreme Court has since sided with the private landowners in the area and upheld the private property protections put in place by Hamilton's amendment. Under the 2012 redistricting plan for the Texas House, Christian's home in Center was placed in a district in which approximately 80 percent of the constituents were new to him. He was one of several senior House Republicans who were either paired with other members of their party or relocated into largely new population districts. These members blamed Speaker Joe Straus, a moderate Republican from San Antonio, for redrawing their district lines to their disadvantage. In both 2009 and 2011, Christian and much of the East Texas delegation unsuccessfully opposed the election of Straus as Speaker. Christian was unseated in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012 by the Straus-endorsed Chris Paddie, 8,552 votes (47.8 percent) to 9,327 ballots (52.2 percent). Christian ran unsuccessfully for one of the three elected seats on the Texas Railroad Commission in the Republican runoff election held on May 27, 2014. He lost to intraparty challenger and current colleague Ryan Sitton, an oil and natural gas engineer from Friendswood, who polled 398,652 (57.3 percent). Christian trailed with 297,654 (42.7 percent). Christian led the four-candidate primary field with 501,820 votes (42.7 percent). Sitton trailed Christian in the first round of balloting, having polled 358,827 (30.5 percent). Two other candidates, geologist Becky Berger of Schulenburg and businessman Malachi Boyuls of Dallas, polled 197,805 votes (16.8 percent) and 117,121 (10 percent), respectively. In 2016, Christian became the Republican nominee for the commissioner spot held by David J. Porter, who did not seek re-election to a second term. In the Republican primary on March 1, Christian finished second among seven candidates with 408,629 votes (19.8 percent). Businessman Gary Gates of Richmond, Texas, led the balloting with 586,253 votes (28.4 percent). In December 2015, Christian temporarily suspended his campaign to care for his elderly mother but was soon back soliciting supporters. He was endorsed by the political action committee, Texas Patriots Tea Party. Christian barely defeated Gates in the runoff contest, 192,599 votes (50.9 percent) to 185,887 (49.1 percent). Only 2.65 percent of registered voters participated in the Republican runoff. In his own Shelby County, Christian prevailed, 1,595 to 369, one of his strongest margins across the state.