MacKay was elected to the
Florida House of Representatives in 1968, and to the
Florida Senate in 1974. In
1980, he ran for U.S. Senate and came third in the Democratic Party primary, therefore failing to qualify for the runoff. Two years later in 1982, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and won. From 1983 to 1989 he served for three terms in the
United States House of Representatives. In
1988 he received the Democratic nomination for the
United States Senate, but lost in a very close race for that office to
Connie Mack III.
Lieutenant governorship headquarters, 1991 MacKay won the
1990 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor on the ticket headed by former U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles, who had held the Senate seat MacKay had unsuccessfully sought two years earlier. They won the election and were
re-elected in 1994, the latter campaign being a close contest against the
Republican ticket headed by
Jeb Bush. As lieutenant governor, MacKay was co-chair of the Florida Commission on Education, Reform and Accountability. He was regarded as the most significant and powerful lieutenant governor in Florida's history. MacKay was a strong supporter of the use of
capital punishment, as was Chiles. When he was asked during the 1998 gubernatorial election campaign about his positions on use of the death penalty and
electric chair in Florida, he replied: "I support the death penalty and support the use of the electric chair so long as it operates in a reliable fashion." However he suggested that Florida should change its mode of execution after
Pedro Medina's botched execution, saying: "The last thing we want to do is generate sympathy for these killers."
Gubernatorial campaign In 1998, MacKay
sought to succeed the term-limited Chiles as governor, easily winning the Democratic nomination with his full support. However, MacKay secured only 44.7% of the vote, losing to
Republican nominee Jeb Bush, who had narrowly lost the 1994 contest but secured 55.3% of the vote in 1998.
Governorship Despite his defeat, MacKay became Chiles' successor when Chiles died unexpectedly on December 12, 1998. MacKay was at this time in
Boston with his wife. When they returned to their hotel room, they found a message about Chiles' death, asking MacKay to get on a plane to
Atlanta, where they were picked up by a state crew and flown through thick fog to
Tallahassee. At 12.30 a.m. the next day, the 65-year-old MacKay was sworn in as Florida's 42nd governor at his Capitol office for the 24 days remaining in Chiles' term. "There's no great pleasure in this," said MacKay about taking a job he had sought, but got for a short time after his political partner's death. He also stated how sorry he was that he would be unable because of the short time and lack of mandate to take care of issues he had long prioritized, such as education and health care. Perhaps his most visible act as governor was signing
Peggy Quince's nomination to the
Florida Supreme Court. Quince was Chiles' last pick for the bench and it fell to MacKay, and then Bush, to sustain her nomination. Having been defeated in the 1998 election, MacKay was succeeded by
Jeb Bush on January 5, 1999. ==Diplomacy==