JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Rep. Ben Baker announced his bid for House speaker pro tem Monday, touting his rural background and promising to facilitate relationships.
“It is my desire to serve you with excellence and offer value to caucus members that will be a fresh vision of collaborative success,” Baker said in a letter to his colleagues and shared with The Missouri Times. “If you know me, you know that I believe in hard work and clean living. As members of the General Assembly, we have an incredible opportunity to serve our constituents and affect change for Missouri, and I take that challenge seriously.”
Baker is a Republican who has represented HD 160 (Newton County) since 2019. He is the chairman of the Downsizing State Government Committee and sits on the Economic Development and Elementary and Secondary Education committees. He is also a member of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and the Special Committee on Redistricting.
Baker is a minister and former dean of students at the Ozark Bible Institute, his alma mater. He is the former Neosho mayor and served on the city council as well.
In his letter, Baker said his rural roots will “round out our caucus team as a servant leader.”
“If I am given the opportunity to serve in this capacity, you will always have a seat at the table; you can depend on unwavering diligence, honesty, integrity, humility, and an open ear,” Baker said. “I will work hard to facilitate relationships with other caucus members and the Senate to help you be a success as we work together to accomplish good for our fellow Missourians.”
The election will be held in the fall of 2022 after Election Day.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
