It's been 26 years between electoral victories for Joe Markley. He was elected to the state Senate for one term in 1984, propelled into office by the Ronald Reagan landslide. Now, he's back, helped into office by the Tea Party movement.As the only avowed Tea Party adherent to win election in Connecticut, Markley is a curiously laid-back representative of a movement known for its anger and frustration with government spending and policies."I've not the hard-driving sort," said Markley, who has degrees in English from Amherst and Columbia. "I'm a very relaxed firebrand."He managed conservative Tom Scott's unsuccessful runs for Congress and governor. With Scott, he helped organize a protest of the income tax that drew at least 40,000 people to the State Capitol in 1991. It was the largest political demonstration in Hartford.Markley's brand of small-government Republicanism has not sold well in Connecticut since 1984, when he and 11 other GOP challengers won state Senate seats on Reagan's coattails, only to lose them two years later on a changing political tide.After an absence of 24 years, he now holds the same seat, allied with minority Republicans and the even smaller Tea Party. Unlike in 1984, when Markley knew he would have trouble winning re-election, his district now is competitive for a Republican, giving Markley a shot at sticking around this time.Political activism has not consumed Markley's life. He has taught at an inner-city high school and at a community college to immigrants preparing to become U.S. citizens. When recruited by Tea Party activists, Markley said, he was living cheaply at a friend's apartment in western Massachusetts, working on a novel "about what I think is wrong with society."Personal: Markley resides in the Plantsville section of Southington.