The state Senate campaign of conservative talk radio host Lee Elci seemed like it might be headed to an early end Monday after his liberal and loquacious Democratic opponent, Sen. Martha Marx of New London, demanded equal time on his station under longstanding FCC rules.

Elci accepted the Republican nomination on Aug. 9. If he wants to keep his weekday gig from 6 to 10 a.m. on WJJF, an FM radio station branded as Fox News 94.9, Marx said the choice is obvious: Take him off the air, or give her four hours to share a world view that is anathema to Fox News listeners.

“I have the gift of gab. I’ve had the gift since I was 1. I love to talk,” said Marx, a nurse and union leader who flipped an open Republican seat four years ago in the 20th Senate District that covers eight communities. “Who knows? I just might find my new calling.”

Elci said at midday Monday he expected to resolve his campaign’s uncertain status by day’s end Monday. But nothing was resolved, other than Elci knowing he would not be back behind the microphone Tuesday.

“I got lawyers talking to lawyers. They’re just trying to work it out so I can stay on the air,” Elci said.

Marx’s campaign’s formal demand for equal time was first reported by The Day of New London. The station’s initial response was to take Elci off the air Monday while lawyers considered the ramifications. It was a rare day off for Elci, who’s been on 94.9 for 16 years.

“I don’t even take vacations,” Elci said. “You know, my dog died, I took a few days off. My mother died, I took a few days off. You know, my dad died, I worked that day.”

Elci clarified that was a nod to his father’s work ethic, not a disregard for his passing.

“That was, you know, me paying tribute to him. I don’t take days off,” Elci said. “I love what I do. And it’s killing me. This is not fun. And I know it’s done on purpose, so that’s adding to my angst, adding to my aggravation.”

The push to make Elci choose between running or radio most assuredly is being done on purpose. 

Marx’s campaign manager, Anna Reiter, put WJJF and its ownership on notice in a letter sent by certified mail on Aug. 13, four days after Elci filed a form creating his campaign committee and three days after a GOP vacancy committee notified the secretary of the state he was their new nominee.

Marx said her demand should have been anticipated, based on the Federal Communications Act of 1934, FCC regulations and ample precedent cited by Reiter, including television stations’ reluctance to broadcast “Bedtime for Bonzo” while Ronald Reagan, its co-star, was running for president.

“He has the same disease as Trump does,” Marx said of Elci. “He thinks he is above the law.”

By regulation, the FCC says, “no station licensee is required to permit the use of its facilities by any legally qualified candidate for public office, but if any licensee shall permit any such candidate to use its facilities, it shall afford equal opportunities to all other candidates for that office.”

When Republicans filed papers on Aug. 10 certifying a vacancy committee had chosen him as the new nominee, Elci became a “legally qualified candidate,” opening the door for the equal time claim by Marx.

If the radio station opted for equal time, the FCC regulations say, “Such licensee shall have no power of censorship over the material broadcast by any such candidate.” In other words, Marx would have no limits.

Marx said she never has been on The Lee Elci Show. She calls the content “hateful,” “misogynistic” and a bit tiresome, least to her ears. She says a running joke about Elci’s desire to end Marxism in the General Assembly has gone stale.

“I have a hard time listening to that show,” Marx said.

Marx was elected in 2022 with 52% of the vote and reelected in 2025 with 55%.

Elci, 60, who lives in East Lyme and was an unaffiliated voter until recently, is a former minor-league baseball player who played in 1988 and 1989 in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system as a catcher, outfielder and first baseman. He batted and threw from the right.

He said Monday he concluded after an initial talk with his station’s management that he could run and stay on the air as long as he did not talk about his candidacy or Marx. He believes the station can accommodate the equal-time requirement, but he faces another potential hurdle:

His remaining on the air could be considered an in-kind contribution by the radio station to his campaign, a potential violation of state election law for a candidate who intends to participate in the state’s public financing program. Elci said the station lawyers were seeking clarification from elections enforcement officials.

“Big picture is I wouldn’t want to put my station in jeopardy,” he said.

Elci said he needed less than a week to raise more than the $20,100 in small-dollar contributions necessary to qualify for public financing under the Citizens’ Election Program.

“So I think that’s why Marx is reacting the way she’s reacting, by being so overtly aggressive,” he said.

The nomination became open when Ronald J.  LaBonte of Salem, the Republican nominee, withdrew. Elci said he had thought about running for about six years.

“Honestly, I felt like I just wanted to do more and try to be more of a solution than what I was or am. And when this situation presented itself, I’m like, OK, and I talked to the ownership, and at the time, they were OK, and we moved forward,” Elci said. “You know, it’s going to be a tough year as it is to win.”

Then why run? He already has a significant outlet for expressing his views.

“I wanted to be an advocate for a lot of different things, and I felt like I kind of stalled out on the outside, so I wanted to jump in,” Elci said. “And that’s really it. I don’t have any other aspirations. I don’t have anything except just trying to do the right thing.”

Elci said the last few days have been an unwelcome education about the mechanics of running for office.

“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know much about any of this,” Elci said. “Even though we talk about it all the time, I’m getting a whole different perspective on all this.”

Elci said the uncertainty — and being taken off the air for even a day — was misery. But he saw one upside, one his audience will hear about when he returns.

“No matter what happens,” he said, “I got a whole bunch of stuff to talk about.”