From 1978 to 1983, he served as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. Prior to his appointment as Alabama's 49th Secretary of State, he served from 1983 to 1993 as a member of the Alabama Senate. He became secretary of state of Alabama, having been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1993 and subsequently elected to two terms in his own right in 1994, as a Democrat, and 1998, as a Republican.[5]
Following his tenure as secretary of state, he was appointed as commissioner of the Alabama Department of Labor in the Cabinet of Governor Bob Riley in July 2003 and reappointed by Governor Robert Bentley in January 2011. He retired in 2012. After the resignation of Beth Chapman as Secretary of State in 2013, GovernorRobert J. Bentley appointed Bennett to replace her, marking the fourth time Bennett served as Alabama's chief elections official.[6]
In 2006, Bennett was named a Signature Sinfonian by the national fraternity for his public service career.[7] He served as chairman of the board of trustees at Jacksonville State, of which he had been a member since 1985, and was president of the National Association of Secretaries of State from 1999 to 2000. He authored several history books including Historic Birmingham and Jefferson County, published in 2008, and Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry, published in 1999.[6]
Bennett died of cancer on August 17, 2016.[8] He was survived by his wife, Andrea, and two children.[2]