Benge was first elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1998, narrowly defeating Shelby Satterfield, an incumbent Democratic candidate.

[6] The first piece of legislation authored by the Tulsa lawmaker and signed into law was the "Prisoners Public Work Act".

[7] The legislation allows public agencies to enter into a contract with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to utilize offender labor.

During this time, he pushed for energy reform in Oklahoma, stressing the need for the U.S. to wean itself from foreign oil rather than any concern about climate change.

[10] Benge announced in January 2010 that his agenda for the upcoming session included reforming the workers' compensation system, promoting the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel, modernizing state government through the use of more technology and creating a plan to deal with an expected shortfall.