In 1940, Baker was elected to represent the seat of Maranoa in the Australian House of Representatives as a member of the Australian Labor Party—only the second time Labor had ever won this normally safe conservative seat in the remote west of Queensland.
In 1940, Baker was elected to represent the Maranoa region in the Australian House of Representatives as a member of the Australian Labor Party—only the second instance where Labor had captured this usually safe seat in the western Queensland area.