Elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress in the Democratic landslide of 1890, Bentley was U.S. Representative for the twenty-third district of New York from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1893. He defeated incumbent Rep. James S. Sherman, the future Vice President of the United States. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress when Sherman defeated him and reclaimed his old seat. He continued the practice of law in Boonville, New York.
