Her support for the New Deal angered Kansas Republicans, including Governor Alf Landon, who promised to have her defeated.

Public opinion in Kansas had shifted against the New Deal, especially the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which McCarthy strongly supported.

The GOP nominated Frank Carlson, the chair of the Kansas Republican Party and close ally of Governor Landon.

Carlson would go on to become one of the most powerful politicians in Kansas history, serving as Governor and later representing the state in the US Senate.

She also owned and operated a large ranch and was part owner of an automobile agency at Hays and Ellis, Kansas.