OKLAHOMA CITY — Randy Grau expected to spend the summer canvassing Edmond neighborhoods in the sweltering Oklahoma heat and persuading voters to elect him to the state House. Instead, he and his family are planning to take an East Coast vacation.

Grau, a political newcomer, was the only candidate to file for the Edmond House seat being vacated by state Rep. Ken Miller.

In a year in which tea party activists railed for change in their government leaders, more than 40 percent of the legislative seats up for re-election in Oklahoma this year drew no challengers.

When Senate holdover positions are added, half of the Oklahoma Legislature is guaranteed to return to the Statehouse next year.

"I never expected it would work out this way. I'm feeling pretty lucky," said Grau, 34, a Republican attorney. "My wife is very happy that we'll be able to take some time off."

Grau was the only non-incumbent to get what lawmakers call a "free pass," but plenty of officeholders can wind down their campaign machines for the 2010 election season. In the 101-member House, 33 Republicans and 14 Democrats drew no opponent. Of the 24 members of the Senate up for re-election this year, three Republicans and three Democrats will automatically take office in November.

"I was on pins and needles until the last minute, because you never know what will happen," said state Sen. Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, whose boys are ages 13 and 5. "There will definitely be one or more family trips this year."

Even with the anti-incumbent movement among tea party groups that sprung up across the state and rallied for political change, the number of unopposed state lawmakers is up from 42 in 2006 and 41 in 2008.

One reason is that many Oklahomans, particularly conservatives, are pleased with their representation in the GOP-controlled Legislature, said Richard Johnson, a political science professor at Oklahoma City University.

"The first observation I have is that the tea party is really not that out of sync with a lot of the aspects of the Republican Party in Oklahoma," Johnson said. "They're not the same beast, but there are a lot of similarities.

"And let's face it: It's tough to beat an incumbent."

Tea party leader Al Gerhart, who helped organize an umbrella group of tea party factions, said state lawmakers who opposed the group's legislative agenda were more than twice as likely to draw an opponent as those who didn't. But Gerhart acknowledged that getting people to run for political office isn't an easy sell, even for enthusiastic tea partiers.

"A lot of your activists talk about doing it, but not once they really how nasty a business it is," Gerhart said. "I'm grateful that there are people willing to go out there and do it.

"I wouldn't want to put myself out there."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.