Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve as a first lieutenant and continues to serve in the rank of captain.

In 2014, incumbent State Representative Will Weatherford was unable to seek re-election due to term limits, so Burgess ran to succeed him.

He won the Republican primary unopposed, and advanced to the general election, where he faced retired social studies teacher Beverly Ledbetter.

[9][10] In January 2021 Burgess introduced legislation to protect Confederate monuments; permit the state to overrule local governments' decisions to reduce funding for police; waive sovereign immunity for municipalities, thereby allowing local authorities to be sued for providing inadequate law enforcement; and block people injured while participating in protests from receiving damages.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Kara Gross described the bill as an attempt "to silence and criminalize Black protesters and their allies who are exercising their First Amendment rights.