In 1972 Steve McGrail defeated 20-year incumbent Fred I. Lamson (R-Malden) to become the youngest State Senator in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

McGrail served two years as an ADA before being appointed by President Jimmy Carter in November 1979 as the first Regional Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Region I. McGrail left FEMA in February 1981 after President Ronald Reagan assumed office.

In 1986, McGrail challenged and lost to incumbent Middlesex District Attorney Scott Harshbarger in the Democratic primary.

[2] In 1990, McGrail ran for the Massachusetts Senate seat in the Middlesex and Essex district, but lost in the Democratic primary to Mike Festa.

In 1999 Governor Paul Cellucci (R) appointed McGrail as Director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) where he served until 2004.