A member of the Democratic Party, Baca served twice as New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands from 1983 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1993 and as 27th mayor of Albuquerque from 1997 to 2001.

[citation needed] In 1993, Baca was appointed Director of the Bureau of Land Management in the administration of Bill Clinton, but was fired the next year amidst tensions with United States Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Western state governors.

[1][2] Baca had run unsuccessfully for mayor of Albuquerque and the United States House of Representatives in 1985 and 1988, respectively.

He ran to reclaim his previous position as Public Lands Commissioner in 2006, narrowly winning the Democratic primary against Ray Powell (who had succeeded him in that office in 1993), but losing the general election to incumbent Republican Lands Commissioner Patrick H.

The move became part of the basis of a 2001 episode of The Simpsons, titled "Hungry, Hungry Homer," which features the owners of the Springfield Isotopes attempted to move their team to Albuquerque.