
Carolyn McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 4th congressional district from 1997 to 2015. A native of the suburban Long Island community of Mineola, New York, she worked as a nurse and was a registered Republican. However, she was motivated to enter politics after her husband was killed and her son was wounded in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting.