David McBride

In 1985, Southern Delaware Home Health Care Agency Incorporated, a non-profit home health care business run by David and his wife Mary, was investigated by the United States Department of Justice for over-billing patients and found to owe over $73,000 in overpayments.[8][5] They closed their business shortly after the investigation was launched.[9] Eleven employees of the business later filed a lawsuit for over $8,600 in unpaid wages and benefits.[10] By 1986, the business owned the federal government nearly $80,000 due to interest on the unpaid principal.[5] In 2012 McBride  joined Duffield Associates’ Client Services group as a senior manager for client services and marketing. He has been a registered professional engineer in Delaware since 1976.[11]

In 1976, McBride ran for a seat on the Conrad Area School district school board and defeated Charles E. Ballard for the seat with 1,131 votes to Ballard's 91 votes.[12][13] He was selected to serve as vice-president of the Conrad school board in 1977.[14] In 1978, McBride announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for a seat in the Delaware House of Representatives from the 15th district against incumbent Representative Robert L. Byrd.[15] McBride defeated Byrd in the Democratic primary and won in the general election.[16][17] During his tenure in the Delaware House of Representatives, he served on the Community Affairs committee and as chairman of the Education committee.[18][19]

In 1980, Francis J. Kearns, a member of the Delaware Senate, announced that he would not seek reelection.[20] McBride received the Democratic nomination to run in the 13th district and faced no opposition in the general election.[21] He was reelected every four years with no opponents running against him until 2020, when he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Marie Pinkney.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

He was appointed to serve as chairman of the Education committee in the Delaware Senate in 1981.[34] In 1991, he was appointed to serve on the Education, Health and Social Service/Aging, Revenue and Taxation, Labor and Industrial Relations, and Finance committees.[35] From 2013 to 2017, he served as Majority Leader of the Delaware Senate.[36] In 2016, he was nominated to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Delaware Senate after President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins was defeated by a Republican in the 2016 general election.[37]

In 1984, while serving in the state senate, McBride announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.[38][39] McBride selected Robert P. Hopkins, who had unsuccessfully sought election to the Delaware House of Representatives, to serve as his campaign manager.[40] During the campaign he was endorsed by Millsboro Commissioner James Smith, Elsmere Mayor John Mitchell, and Kent County Levy Court Commissioner Louis J. Giusto.[41] McBride was also endorsed by Representative Al O. Plant, but Plant later switched his endorsement to S. B. Woo.[42] In the Democratic primary he placed last in third place behind Nancy Cook and Woo.[43] During the campaign McBride has spent $38,793 and held unpaid debt due to his campaign until 1991.[44]