 During her campaign travels throughout the state, McCarty encouraged women and girls to take more active roles in politics and government.McCarty lost in the primary election In 1984 to Wayne Townsend, the Democratic Party's eventual nominee, and Townsend lost in the general election to the Republican incumbent, Governor Robert D. Orr.McCarty also declared her candidacy for Indiana governor for the 1988 Indiana gubernatorial election, but ended her campaign in April 1987 due to insufficient campaign funds.