 McCarty, a member of the Democratic Party, did not become active in politics until 1965, when she was forty years old.In 1966, McCarty was first woman to be nominated by major party (the Democrats) for a judgeship in Marion County, Indiana, and was nominated again in 1970, but was not elected.In 1976, the Democrats nominated her as the party's candidate for Indiana Attorney General, making McCarty the first woman in Indiana to be nominated for the position.