[5] He then narrowly won the 1998 general election when he unseated by 257 votes the incumbent Democrat Charles Adkins Finnell of Holliday in Archer County, which was then within District 68.
He voted against a law signed by Perry which permits corporal punishment in public schools but only with parental consent.
He voted for a House-approved amendment offered in 2011 by conservative Representative Wayne Christian to require public colleges and universities to fund student centers that promote family and traditional values.
He first sponsored legislation in 2011 to require women in Texas who procure abortions to undergo an ultrasound to be informed of the progress in the development of the child.
[4] He voted for legislation, passed 102–40 in the House and signed by Governor Perry, which authorizes a county, when determining eligibility for a "sponsored alien" under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, to include in the resources of the applicant any additional incomes of their spouse and sponsor.
[11] Physically unable to seek reelection in 2012, Hardcastle has multiple sclerosis and has undergone adult stem cell surgery for his condition.
[12] On April 18, 2012, Hardcastle was honored at a retirement party attended by many of his legislative colleagues held at the Red River Valley Museum in Vernon.