[8] Although Duryea had the nominations of both the Republican and Conservative parties through electoral fusion, he lost to Carey in the general election with 45% of the popular vote.

[10][11][3] During the 1980 elections he defeated John Hart in the Republican primary and also received the nominations of the Conservative and New York State Right to Life parties.

[13][14] On May 24, 1982, Carney announced that he would seek reelection and easily defeated Democratic nominee Ethan Eldon, receiving over sixty percent of the popular vote, with the Republican, Conservative, and Right to Life parties' nominations.

[17][18][19] In the general election he narrowly defeated Democratic and Ratepayers Against Lilco nominee George J. Hochbrueckner, a member of the New York State Assembly.

[20][21] The Ratepayers Against Lilco ballot line was created by Hockbrueckner in opposition of the Long Island Lighting Company's construction of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, which Carney supported.

[28] On October 8, 1985, he announced that he had changed his party affiliation from Conservative to Republican in an attempt to improve his chances of receiving the Deputy Minority Whip position.

Tom Loeffler, the current Deputy Minority Whip, had announced that he would run for the Republican nomination in the 1986 Texas gubernatorial election.

[36] In 1979, Carney, Norman F. Lent, and Gerald Solomon sent a letter to Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti asking him to investigate black leaders who met with Yasser Arafat for violation of the Logan Act.

[37] In 1981, Carney and 107 other members of the House of Representatives signed a letter asking for the withdrawal of the visa given to Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, by President Jimmy Carter.

[40] On December 21, 1982, twenty-four members of the House of Representative, including Carney, sent an eight-page letter to Archbishop Joseph Bernardin defending Reagan's nuclear policy.

[43] On April 29, 1985, and January 23, 1986, he introduced resolutions that would designate June 14, as Baltic Freedom Day and show disapproval of the Soviet Union's refusal to recognize the independence of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.