This was supposed to be the election in which people finally rose up against the people who represented them so poorly. Congress was historically unpopular. Faith in the president and federal government had collapsed. Voters tended to approve of the job their own member of Congress was doing, but in August, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found even that number sinking under the waves.
And yet, as usual, most incumbents held onto their seats. Not even the incumbents hit by scandals managed to lose their elections. Yes, some of the people who'd been indicted this ear decided to give up their seats, but those who stuck it out got returned, with one exception. (That's not counting Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kay Hagan, who were hit with last-minute allegations of, respectively, overzealously worrying about the tax status of political groups and of receiving familial benefit from stimulus money.) A recap:
