Carolyn McCarthy (née Cook; January 5, 1944 – June 26, 2025) 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. She became an advocate for gun control legislation, and in 1996, she was elected to the House as a Democrat, defeating a Republican incumbent. She served a total of nine terms.
On January 8, 2014, she announced that she would not run for re-election that November, citing health; she retired in January 2015 and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Kathleen Rice.
