Born in Quorn, South Australia, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farmer and grazier.

[1] He transferred to the federal House of Representatives in 1938, winning a by-election for the seat of Wakefield caused by the death of the sitting United Australia Party member, Charles Hawker.

He needed a seemingly daunting 13 percent swing to win the seat, and his UAP opponent was former South Australian Premier Richard Layton Butler.

The seat's conservative nature reasserted itself in the 1940 election, when McHugh was defeated by UAP challenger Jack Duncan-Hughes, the former member for Boothby.

[2] McHugh returned to state politics, winning the seat of Light in 1941 and holding it until 1944.