McDermott made headlines in 2013 for his vocal opposition to same-sex marriage. It ultimately became law, and Bob McDermott turned his focus on Pono Choice, a sex education course in Hawaii. On January 8, 2014, McDermott held a press conference where he gave a presentation on "oral sex," "vaginal sex," and "anal sex." The press conference gained national attention and many experts called it an "obsession with sex".
On March 14, 2016, during a debate over the state budget, McDermott was caught yelling profanities at fellow Republicans for not volunteering time to him as he was at his limit of his allotted time. McDermott told his colleagues to "start acting like Republicans" and "do your job." McDermott made headlines again in March 2017 after voting Beth Fukumoto out of her position as House Minority Leader, saying that her criticisms of Donald Trump and attendance at the Women's March were only to gain publicity for herself. Fukumoto then left the Republican party, citing racism and sexism within the party as her reasons for leaving.
1996 When Democratic Representative Robert Bunda ran for Hawaii Senate and left the House District 32 seat open, McDermott was unopposed for the September 21, 1996 Republican Primary, winning with 304 votes, and won the November 5, 1996 General election with 2,483 votes against Democratic nominee Leonard Pepper.
1998 McDermott was unopposed for the September 19, 1998 Republican Primary, winning with 304 votes, and won the November 3, 1998 General election with 2,796 votes against Democratic nominee Wilfred Tangonan.
2000 McDermott was unopposed for the September 23, 2000 Republican Primary, winning with 785 votes, and won the November 7, 2000 General election with 2,686 votes against Democratic nominee Eddie Aguinaldo.
2002 Expecting to challenge incumbent Democratic United States RepresentativePatsy Mink for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district seat, McDermott won the September 21, 2002 Republican Primary with 20,180 votes ; Mink had been hospitalized after announcing her re-election candidacy, and died the week after the primary, but too late to be replaced on the General election ballot; she was elected posthumously in the four-way November 5, 2002 General election. McDermott did not run in the November 30, 2002 Special election to succeed her in the interim, as an election to fill the remainder of her term was scheduled for January 4, 2003.
2003 McDermott ran in the 91 candidate January 4, 2003 Special election to succeed Congresswoman Mink, but lost to Ed Case, who had won the interim special election, and held the seat until 2007.
