Ironically, it was the vagaries of Massachusetts electoral politics that propelled Demakis to his first election.

In 1993, former governor William F. Weld '66 replaced Demakis with a Republican. And a year later, the incumbent state representative in his district, Mark Roosevelt '78, decided to run for governor, leaving his former position open for a Democrat.

Booted from the tax board, Demakis decided to finally put his name on the ballot.

"I did not want to look back 30 years from now and say this was something I had never tried," he says.

Demakis won the race--by a narrow margin of 137 votes--and has held the post ever since, increasing his margin of victory each reelection period. And he says he is grateful that he took as long as he did to aim for the office.

Too many people, Demakis advises, enter politics too quickly. He tells aspiring politicians to spend time establishing themselves in their communities long before even thinking about entering a race.

"Working with the Democratic committee and the neighborhood association helped me to acquire some of the skills I needed to be a good public official. And it gave me the opportunity to demonstrate that I had good leadership abilities," Demakis says.

District residents say Boston profited from Demakis' decision to finally run for office.