Term-limited in 2012, he left the Senate to become the executive assistant to the president at the University of Central Arkansas at Conway, where he resides.
[4] On December 5, 2009, Baker won a straw poll in Hot Springs with 35 percent of the vote in a field of seven.
[5] He was considered to have been the front-runner until U.S. Representative John Boozman entered the race and won the nomination and subsequently the general election, Baker finished in third in the primary behind Boozman and former State Senator Jim Holt, a Baptist minister from Springdale.
[citation needed] On January 11, 2019, Baker was indicted on counts of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud.
The indictment is related to a bribery scheme involving former Faulkner County Circuit Judge Mike Maggio.