McDade served a clerkship in the office of John W. Murphy, chief federal judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

He barely held onto his seat in 1964 amid Lyndon B. Johnson's gigantic landslide that year, winning by just over 2,800 votes over James Haggerty.

In 1966, along with seven other Republican members of Congress, McDade signed a telegram sent to Georgia Governor Carl E. Sanders regarding the Georgia General Assembly's refusal to seat the recently elected Julian Bond in their state House of Representatives.

This served him well, since 60% of the 10th's vote was cast in the heavily Democratic and thoroughly unionized city of Scranton.

He was a member of the National Rifle Association[3] and cosponsored several bills attempting to ban abortion and flag burning.

[4] He was also a strong supporter of tax and welfare reform, but also was an opponent of free trade agreements.

[7] Following his acquittal, Congressman McDade sought to restrict the DOJ's attempts to set its own standards for ex parte contacts of represented persons and parties.

He also objected to DoJ's view that its attorneys should be exempt from the ex parte contact rules of the states in which they are licensed and in which they practice.

McDade was successful in his efforts to ensure DOJ attorneys adhere to state bar ethics standards.