He was first elected in 1974 in an upset against Senator A.C. "Junie" Bartulis. After that election, he handily beat most of his opponents and during the later half of his career ran unopposed. At the beginning of his Senate tenure, Demuzio became part of a group of legislators called the "Crazy 8" which included, among others,
Terry L. Bruce and
Dawn Clark Netsch. Two years later, the group teamed up with
Harold Washington and other members of the
Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to win legislative reforms from
Thomas Hynes by withholding support for his election as
Senate President. Keeping with his maverick ways, he ran for
Secretary of State on a slate with independent Democratic Governor
Dan Walker. He lost the Democratic primary to
Alan J. Dixon who would serve as Secretary of State until his election to the United States Senate. In 1983, he was appointed as an Assistant Majority Leader and reappointed each session until the Democrats lost their majority during the 1992 election. After that he remained in Democratic leadership as an Assistant Minority Leader. When the Democrats retook the Senate in 2002, he was subsequently appointed the Senate Majority Leader. During his time in the Senate, he commuted to his home in Carlinville rather than stay in Springfield. Outside of the Senate, he was a member of the Board of Trustees for
Blackburn College in Carlinville, where the Demuzio Student Center is named in his honor.
Other legislative initiatives In 1999, he helped to create the Penny Severns Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund, named after the late
Penny Severns who died of breast cancer in 1998. He also advocated for legislation to increase the Rural Bond Bank's bond authorization and the maximum amount used to purchase securities issued by certain units of local government, ushered the creation of the Downstate Illinois Sports Facilities Authority through the Senate and wrote the Electronic Transfer Act.
49th district During his time in the Illinois Senate, Demuzio represented the 49th district, located in southwestern Illinois. From 1991 until 2001, the district stretched from
Christian County in the east to
Calhoun County in the west and included
Montgomery,
Bond,
Macoupin,
Greene,
Jersey,
Morgan counties and a small portion of
Madison County. During the 2001 redistricting process, his district remained largely the same, though it added a small portion of
Fayette County.
Committee assignments Demuzio spent the bulk of his career as a member of the Education committee. He also served on the Legislative Audit Commission and served on the Steering Committee to re-examine the Illinois Constitution. He was also involved in the redistricting process in both 1991 and 2001 as a member of the Legislative Redistricting Commissions. ==Democratic Party Chairman==