Election winners are poised to have a big impact right away, as the board is scheduled to revise the state’s social studies curriculum standards next year.

For more than 20 years, Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy has been a reliably conservative voice on the State Board of Education.

Hardy has fought for Moses to be included in social studies standards, advocated for presenting creationism alongside evolution in science textbooks and said she was an early voice to call for the banning of critical race theory from the state’s public schools.

But in 2024, Hardy is not conservative enough for Republican voters: She lost her primary election earlier this month against Brandon Hall, a former youth pastor who has pitched himself as a fighter for Christian conservative values.