He served twelve years in the Alabama House of Representatives, and has made several unsuccessful runs for office since.

Mathis garnered national attention in 2017 when he criticized Senate candidate Roy Moore for his past comments on homosexuality and spoke in support of his daughter, who had killed herself after being outed as a lesbian.

[8] His son, Joey, died of a prescription painkiller overdose in 2004;[1] his daughter, Patti Sue, committed suicide in 1995.

He expressed regret, saying in a 2012 letter, "sometime after Patti died, I attended church and a visiting preacher was preaching.

"[11] [1] Buzzfeed News did a follow-up to his story about a year after the Roy Moore video went viral & his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

This showed his continuing advocacy for the LGBTQ community by attending Rocket City Pride and being a guest speaker at [2] Unlimited Ministries of Alabama.