PHILADELPHIA -- Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill, who helped craft the unpopular legislative pay raise that spurred an anti-incumbency movement, conceded an upset loss in today's primary.

With 38 percent of precincts reporting, Mike Folmer had 6,258 votes, or 64 percent, compared with 3,520, or 36 percent, for Brightbill.

Brightbill, a Lebanon County native, was first elected to the Senate in 1982 and became Senate majority leader in 2000.

Sixty-one incumbents, including five legislative leaders, had challengers in Tuesday's primary -- the highest number since 1980.

The incumbents tried to put the pay-raise debacle behind them by touting their broader legislative records and years of experience. The challengers argued that electing new lawmakers is the only way to improve the Legislature's accountability to the public.

The Senate's highest-ranking Republican, Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer, was trailing John Eichelberger, a Blair County commissioner and long-time political foe, in a three-way race that also included farmer-publisher C. Arnold McClure.

With 38 percent of precincts reporting, Eichelberger had 5,955 votes, or 46 percent, compared with 4,715, or 37 percent, for Jubelirer and 2,212 votes, or 17 percent, for McClure.

Brightbill, with his wife beside him, conceded defeat before stunned supporters at Lebanon County GOP headquarters. He said he would continue to work on property tax relief during his remaining time in office.

Folmer's spokeswoman said Brightbill may have lost because he fell out of touch with the people in his district.

"Because you know what? This state is about the people. We're built on 'We the people,'" said Laurel Lynn Petolicchio with the Folmer campaign.

The pay raise cost 13-term incumbent Rep. Tom Petrone, D-Allegheny, the vote of Judith Friedl, who instead supported challenger Mike Galovich.

"That whole pay raise thing irritated me," said the 55-year-old answering service operator from Dormont.

In a suburban Harrisburg district, GOP voters were picking from among four candidates to replace a departing state representative, Mark McNaughton, a Republican who voted for the pay raise.

Attorney Richard Enterline, who voted early Tuesday, said McNaugton made the right decision. "He would have faced considerable opposition," Enterline said.

Early on the morning of July 7, lawmakers voted themselves salary increases of 16 percent to 54 percent without public hearings or floor debate. Despite a constitutional ban on midterm raises, they also included a provision that let them immediately start collecting higher paychecks immediately.

The furor spawned PACleanSweep, an organization devoted to ousting all legislators.

The raise, which also boosted the salaries of state judges and executive-branch officials, was repealed Nov. 6. Two days later, voters denied Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro a second term in an unprecedented vote tied to anger over the raises.

PACleanSweep backed 40 candidates who were challenging incumbents in the primary, although some of the challengers were running against each other in the same districts.

Voters also were expected to choose Republican and Democratic nominees to compete for 30 open seats resulting from incumbent retirements, the largest number since 1992.

All 203 seats in the House and 25 in the Senate are up for grabs this year; 137 incumbents were unopposed in the primary.

Only a handful of incumbents typically get voted out of office.

The last time a Pennsylvania legislative leader was defeated in any election was 1964, when Republican Senate President Pro Tempore M. Harvey Taylor lost the primary.

A special election was being held Tuesday to fill a vacancy created by the death of Sen. Robert J. Thompson, R-Chester, whose term expires in 2008.