Career
Originally a Democrat, Bentley and four other constitutional officers in Georgia switched to the Republican Party in 1968 to protest the violence that shook the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois that year. Thereafter, Bentley unsuccessfully sought the 1970 Republican gubernatorial nomination. He was defeated by more liberal candidate, Hal Suit, an Atlanta news broadcaster who opposed capital punishment.
Suit polled 62,868 primary votes (585 percent) to Bentley"s 40,251 (374 percent).
Bentley said that he was shunned by the Grand Old Party regulars who "seemed somewhat indignant because we had not consulted the Republican leadership before we joined." Bentley blamed his primary loss on "stand-pat" Republicans practicing "kamikaze" politics. Suit subsequently lost the general election to Democrat Jimmy Carter, 41-59 percent.