LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The winner of Arkansas’ race for chief justice of the state Supreme Court will not change its conservative majority and has not attracted the heavy spending of Republican groups that have targeted previous campaigns. But the result will still make history.

Justices Karen Baker and Rhonda Wood are running to replace current Chief Justice Dan Kemp in this year’s nonpartisan runoff. Baker and Wood were the top two finishers in a four-person race for the field in March, but neither got the majority needed to win the race outright.

The Arkansas court is technically nonpartisan, but Republican-backed justices hold a 4-3 majority on the court. That majority will expand to 5-2 regardless of who wins the race, with GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders set to fill two vacancies in the field next year.

Baker or Wood will become the first female elected chief justice in the state. Betty Dickey was appointed as the court’s chief justice in 2003.

Wood, who was first elected to the court in 2014 and then up for re-election in 2022, has the support of Republicans, including Sanders and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton. The Arkansas Republican Party State Committee also endorsed her candidacy.

Wood, however, said she believes her experience on the court shows she is an independent voice and does not rule in favor of either side.

“I think we’ve made decisions consistent with the law, but not necessarily where one side or the other would agree,” Wood told The Associated Press.

Baker, who has worked at the court since 2011, did not respond to multiple messages from the AP seeking an interview. Baker won re-election in 2022, defeating a former Republican lawmaker who presented himself as a constitutional conservative.

In interviews, Baker has said she has proven herself to be nonpartisan.

“I think my opponent has proven that he’s not,” she told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette when asked about Sanders’ political action committee supporting Wood’s campaign.

Arkansas judicial races have been targeted in recent years by conservative groups that have spent heavily on efforts to push the court further to the right. Those groups, however, have not identified Arkansas as a target this year, instead focusing on higher-profile races in battleground states like Ohio and Michigan.

The two candidates most recently split in a lawsuit over an abortion-rights measure that would have rolled back a state ban that went into effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Wood wrote the court’s 4-3 majority opinion that upheld the state’s decision to reject petitions filed in favor of the proposal. The court ruled that the measure’s sponsors did not comply with the document requirements for paid signature gatherers.

In a strong dissent, Baker asked, “Why are respondent and the majority determined to keep this particular vote from the people?”

When asked what the opinions clarified about the difference between the justices, Wood said, “I think it’s clear which appears to be more judicially narrow versus an opinion that tries to sway public emotion.”

Baker touted his experience on the bench and has previously mentioned improving the bar license as an area he would like to focus on if elected.

Wood said he would like to push for changes to the court system to make it more accessible, including text notifications of hearings and alternative options for attending court, including night courts and virtual courts.

“There are a lot of finished things that I want to do specifically, but the theme makes it much more transparent and citizen-friendly,” Wood said.

Whoever loses the race will still be in the field, but the election will give Sanders a second nomination to make next year. Judge Courtney Hudson was elected in March to a position on her own court, creating a vacancy. Hudson will replace Cody Hiland, who Sanders appointed to the court last year.