[8] At the age of 21, McDonald resigned from the 1998 United States congressional campaign of Brian Babin, Republican candidate of Texas's 2nd district.

After working on the campaign for three months, McDonald, who is openly gay,[9] abruptly stepped down, citing "irreconcilable differences" with Babin over the issue of homosexuality.

According to The Dallas Morning News, McDonald announced his resignation via press release without discussing it with Babin, and his sudden departure left those in the campaign shocked and confused.

[10][11] In the press release, McDonald wrote "There comes a time when your convictions take precedence over your job, your title and your status.

In some press reports, Babin claimed that McDonald was not the campaign manager, but instead a "volunteer coordinator", also a paid position.

[13] An article by Hastings Wyman of the Southern Political Report suggested that McDonald was forced to resign by the local media threatening to "out" him.

Later in the same post McDonald claims that he was "...the youngest campaign manager working on a federal level campaign" in the 1998 United States midterm election cycle and describes his motivation for originally taking the job by writing that he "decided to briefly return to the closet in exchange for the superficial satisfaction of doing something that no one else [his] age was doing.

[21] Allie Demet of The Badger Herald writes that "McDonald is equal parts humorist and baker—he’s smart, snarky, sassy and downright hilarious.

[27] McDonald wrote of the sudden and rapid deterioration of his partner that he was "watching the love of [his] life waste away from the plague in the supposed non-plague years".

[28] McDonald's brother, Grant McDonald, then a junior at New York University's (NYU) Playwrights Horizons Theater School, adapted the writing for the stage and a 45-minute original production, entitled Spotting Love, premiered as part of NYU's 2010 Creating Original Work season and is currently being adapted into a screenplay.