McCarthy joined the
United States Air Force in March 1951, and served for twenty-one months until the end of 1952, as an enlisted man. He was in an intelligence unit at the
Strategic Air Command and was stationed at
Lake Charles, Louisiana for seventeen months. McCarthy unexpectedly lost the speakership to
Willie Brown in 1980. McCarthy had been facing a stiff challenge from
Howard Berman. Seeing his fellow Democrats so divided, Brown worked with Republicans to gain the speakership. Both of the losers in this struggle soon left the legislature. Berman ran for Congress and McCarthy ran for statewide office.
Lieutenant Governor of California (from 1983 to 1995) McCarthy was first elected to statewide office to the first of three consecutive four-year terms as
lieutenant governor of California in
1982, at the same time that
Republican George Deukmejian was elected
governor. In 1986, the incumbent McCarthy ran against Republican
Mike Curb, the former Lieutenant Governor and McCarthy's immediate predecessor as well as a former film producer and music promoter with a reputation for opposing drug use by artists. In a hotly-contested race for lieutenant governor that centered largely around violent crime and drug policy, McCarthy alleged that Curb made a fortune in making 'exploitation films' that glorified drugs, sex, and violence. Curb was so incensed at the charges that he filed a $7-million libel and slander suit against McCarthy, who ultimately won the election. After his failed 1988 Senate campaign, McCarthy won a third term as lieutenant governor in 1990, while his 1988 opponent
Pete Wilson won the election for governor.
1988 U.S. Senate campaign In
1988, McCarthy ran for the
U.S. Senate. He easily won the Democratic Party nomination but was defeated in the general election by the Republican incumbent and future Governor
Pete Wilson. As of 2021, this was the last time a Republican won a U.S. Senate seat in California. McCarthy's 4,287,253 votes set a record for the most votes given to a losing Democratic Senate candidate that lasted until it was broken by
MJ Hegar of Texas in 2020. McCarthy was the first person to get more than 4 million votes in a losing Senate campaign.
1992 U.S. Senate campaign and retirement In
1992, McCarthy entered the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate but lost the nomination to
US Representative (and later general election winner)
Barbara Boxer. McCarthy retired from public office at the end of his third term as the state's longest-serving Lieutenant Governor after 12 years in office on January 2, 1995, choosing not to seek re-election to a fourth term in
1994, even though he was eligible for one more term and would not have been term-limited until 1998. He was succeeded by a fellow Democrat, then-
State Controller and later future Governor
Gray Davis. McCarthy's 12 years are the longest any
California lieutenant governor has served. Upon leaving politics, he created an investment company, The Daniel Group, named for his father and located in San Francisco.
Leo T. McCarthy Center He helped found the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the
University of San Francisco. ==Personal life and death==