Machtley served three terms as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island from 1989 to 1995.

From 1996 to 2020, Machtley served as president of Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and was awarded faculty membership in Omicron Delta Kappa there in 2005.

Machtley received a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1978 and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in the same year.

Machtley ran for Congress as a Republican in the 1st District and defeated 28-year incumbent Democrat Fernand St. Germain in a considerable upset.

He was the heavy favorite in the Republican primary,[citation needed] but was soundly defeated by Lincoln Almond, who went on to victory in November.