[6] In published letters, McSwain defended George W. Bush-era "enhanced interrogation techniques" and, in 2016, criticized football player Colin Kaepernick as "uninformed and hypocritical" for his national anthem protests.

The concept of a safe injection site was received with both opposition and support, with 90% of surveyed residents and 63% of business owners and employees in Kensington, the neighborhood of Philadelphia hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, approving the measure.

[15][16][17][18] However, a swath of Kensington residents felt “blindsided” by the proposal to introduce safe injection sites and questioned the legitimacy of the survey and whether its methods were scientific.

[21] Judge Stephanos Bibas, writing for the majority, held that the 1986 law barred the proposal and that "Safehouse's benevolent motive makes no difference.

"[18] Judge Jane Richards Roth dissented, "calling the logic behind the ruling 'absurd' and the 30-year-old statute on which it was based — one meant to go after owners and tenants of drug dens — 'nearly incomprehensible.

McSwain further accused him of "lawlessness" and ignoring "entire sections of the criminal code" after controversial decisions to not prosecute certain crimes, such as non-violent drug offenses.

"[25] In an interview, in response to rising violent crime rates in Philadelphia, McSwain described the DA's policies as a failed "radical criminal justice experiment on the local level."

"[25] McSwain criticized Krasner for approving a plea deal with a man who shot and gravely wounded a West Philadelphia shop owner with an AK-47 in the course of an attempted robbery.

McSwain's office prosecuted the man separately, under the doctrine of dual sovereignty, and obtained a federal conviction and sentence of 14 years for the shooter.

[41] During his campaign, he criticized some stances of an LGBT group sponsored by the Gender Sexuality Alliance (“GSA”) at a Pennsylvania middle school as “left-wing indoctrination.”[42] McSwain came in third in the Republican primary race with 15.77% of the vote behind Mastriano (43.83%) and former Congressman Lou Barletta (20.25%), carrying Chester County in the election and finished second to Mastriano in a majority of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

[43][44] He subsequently rejoined the law firm Duane Morris LLP, where he serves as the Co-Chair of the White Collar and Government Investigations Divisions.