Many pundits hailed this election year as the Year of Anti-Incumbency, but that phenomenon barely surfaced in Pennsylvania’s legislative races

. All but one of the 28 contested House and Senate incumbents seeking re-election came away winners.

Where was the anger that Pennsylvanians were spewing last fall over the 101-day budget impasse? Where were the people who poll after poll give the Legislature low approval ratings? Where was the kick-all-the-bums-out spirit that tea party activists incited?

How in the world could

— state Reps. Bill DeWeese and John Perzel — survive an election when another candidate was on the ballot?

Political pundits and even lawmakers think the answer lies mostly in the power of incumbency, and all the resources and name recognition that come with it.

“An incumbent who uses his or her advantages is very, very difficult to beat unless they’ve done something really outrageous, and as you saw [Tuesday night], even if they are under indictment, you can win if you run the right kind of campaign and use the advantages of office well,” said Charlie Gerow, a Harrisburg-based political strategist.

Incumbents build up an allegiance with their voters who tend to focus retrospectively on what that representative or senator has done for the district rather than what they say they will do.

That is a credential that Perzel and DeWeese touted in their successful primary bids to help voters look beyond the felony criminal charges they face, accused of using public-funded resources for campaign purposes.

The Republican Perzel has represented his Philadelphia district for 32 years. DeWeese, a Greene County Democrat, has held his seat for 34 years.

“They have brought so much money back to their districts that people weren’t going to give that up until the courts throw them in jail,” said Tim Potts of Democracy Rising PA.

He said voters in those districts likely don’t fully understand how the power and ability to bring home the bacon that these two former House leaders once held has since evaporated, and the incumbents aren’t about to educate them about it.

Indicted incumbents surviving a primary leaves pundits mystified, said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

“But we’re talking about two of the most experienced pros in recent history, and they know how to win, what it takes, and know their district,” Madonna said. “Hell, they drew the boundary lines of their districts. Give me a break.”

Madonna was referring to the redrawing of legislative district boundaries that occurs every 10 years to reflect shifts in populations and is often done to insulate incumbents from election challenges.

But there are always exception to the rule.

In Tuesday’s primary, state Rep. Karen Beyer, a Lehigh Valley Republican, lost to Justin Simmons, a 23-year-old state Senate staffer, noted Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

Simmons targeted key votes in which Beyer sided with House Democrats and he raised enough money to air campaign ads on television, Borick said.

Observers also noted that only a portion of the state’s voters had opportunities to “kick the bums out” of the General Assembly — only 28 of the 226 seats up for election this year featured contested primary races.

But with the fall election bringing contests in at least 147 races, they said that attitude might produce some Election Day surprises for some incumbents.

Turnout was another factor that Madonna cited.

“A lot of people think their vote doesn’t make a difference and no matter who they send, they get the same result” so they don’t vote, Madonna said.

Three out of four registered voters were no-shows on Tuesday.

From her stops at polling places on Tuesday, Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Lower Allen Township, said she didn’t sense any overwhelming anti-incumbent venom.

Rather, she said voters expressed frustration and concern about transportation and pension funding problems facing the state, as well as questions about whether the state will pass a budget on time this year.

“Will that frustration mount if it’s late and will that have an effect on the outcome in November, I don’t know,” she said.