In 1992, returning to the Democratic Party, he entered the New Hampshire presidential primary and campaigned for the Democratic nomination, but was excluded from the first televised debate by its moderator, Tom Brokaw of NBC. Along with other candidates who had been excluded from the 1992 Democratic debates (including two-time New Alliance Party Presidential candidate Lenora Fulani, former Irvine, California mayor Larry Agran, "Billy Jack" actor Tom Laughlin, and others), McCarthy staged protests and took unsuccessful legal action in an attempt to be included in the debates. Unlike the other excluded candidates, McCarthy was a longstanding national figure and had mounted credible campaigns for president in previous elections. He won 108,679 votes in the 1992 primaries.