First elected to the Senate in November of 2012, he was sworn in on the first day of the regular session of 2013. For the 93rd General Assembly, Senator Caldwell is serving as the Assistant Pro Tempore from the 1st Congressional District.

Senator Caldwell is chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development and a member of Revenue and Taxation. He is also a member of the Joint Energy Committee, Senate Committee on Rules, Resolutions and Memorials, Arkansas Legislative Council, Joint Budget and is co-chair of Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and serves on several subcommittees.

In the 92nd General Assembly Regular Session, Senator Caldwell, chair of State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the committee members had the task to go page by page of the Arkansas Government Transformation Bill that became ACT 910 of 2019. The committee spent almost four weeks on the bill while still hearing debates on other items that were assigned to their committee. HB 1763 of 2019 was over 2,000 pages long and affected every department and agency in the executive branch.

In past sessions Senator Caldwell has been chair of Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development and co-chair of ALC-Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace Oversight Subcommittee, vice chair for the ALC-Lottery Oversight Subcommittee, ALC-Review and vice-chair of Senate Rules, Resolutions and Memorials.

In past sessions, Senator Caldwell passed legislation that affected the Arkansas Medicaid Program, Teachers Retirement System and pass legislation for the mergers of Technical Institutes and Community Colleges. He has voted to ban abortions after twenty weeks or whenever the heartbeat is determined.

Senator Caldwell is active with the Cross County Economic Development Commission, the National Rifle Association, the Dallas Safari Club, Delta Waterfowl and Honduras Medical-Dental. He is a real estate investor and the owner of Caldwell Development, LLC and Caldwell Family Enterprises, LLC. He is the past owner of Caldwell Lumber Co., Inc.

A native of Wynne, Arkansas, Senator Caldwell graduated from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He and wife Brenda Ann have one son, one daughter and three grandchildren. Senator Caldwell and his wife are members of the Wynne Baptist Church.