Political Campaigns
The Fourth District and its predecessors had been in Republican hands since 1953, even though Nassau County as a whole has supported Democrats for President since 1992. In 1996, the district's first-term Republican incumbent Dan Frisa was running for re-election at the time that McCarthy testified at a congressional hearing against an ultimately unsuccessful Republican attempt to repeal the federal Assault Weapons Ban in a congressional hearing.
After Frisa voted for the repeal, McCarthy, a lifelong Republican, announced she would run against him in the primary. However, local Republican officials showed no support for her candidacy. So, with the support of the local and national Democratic parties, and the endorsement of Newsday, the local daily newspaper, McCarthy ran as a Democrat and defeated Frisa by seventeen points. Afterwards, some Republicans tried unsuccessfully to persuade her to run as a Republican in 1998.
She faced a close fight for reelection in 1998 against state assemblyman Gregory Becker, but did not face serious opposition again until 2004. That year, she faced Hempstead mayor James Garner. The race was expected to be competitive, but McCarthy won easily, taking 63% of the vote.
Although McCarthy has always served as a Democrat, she did not change her voter registration from Republican until 2003.
Read more about this topic: Carolyn McCarthy
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