Involved with a local neighborhood association, as well as the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, McLaughlin first ran for the
City Council in Yonkers, New York's fourth largest city and one of the "Big Five" cities in the State, in a 1997 election for the fourth district council seat. He scored an impressive 38% of the vote as a third-party candidate on the
Conservative Party of New York State line. He won the seat outright during the 1999 general election after winning the
Republican primary and served from 2000 to 2010, including service as Minority Leader and Majority Leader. He ran for the
New York State Senate in 2010 after being
term-limited off the Council against
State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, garnering 45% of the vote. He then returned to private law practice and served as an adjunct professor at
Manhattan College. In 2013, he was elected Council President. His first local law gave a
school tax exemption to military
veterans, which made Yonkers the first major city in
New York to offer that benefit to service members. While Republicans across the nation surged to power on the coat tails on Donald Trump, McLaughlin was tossed out of office, beaten by Mike Khader, a son of Jordanian immigrants. With McLaughlin's defeat, the Yonkers City Council has changed to Democratic control. Khader won handily, defeating McLaughlin 54% to 46%. ==Electoral history==