The son of a Methodist minister, Baker was born in New Orleans and graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

In 1971, just a year out of school, he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives as a Democrat from a predominantly blue-collar district in Baton Rouge and served eight terms.

Soon afterwards, 6th District Republican congressman Henson Moore, announced that he was running for the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Russell B.

Amid a nationwide backlash against Republicans for what was seen as overzealous behavior during the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Baker just barely held onto his seat by about one thousand votes, narrowly avoiding a runoff.

Baker was a former chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, and served as its ranking Republican from 2007 to 2008.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Baker caused some controversy in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when he was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans.

The LRC would have been initially financed by the issuance of federal government bonds and would use the funds to buy properties from homeowners and business in the most devastated areas of the state.

On the advice of Recovery Tsar Donald E. Powell, President Bush killed the LRC when he publicly announced his opposition to the bill.

On January 15, 2008, Baker announced his intention to resign from Congress to take a lobbying position with the Managed Funds Association.