Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, listens during a reconvened legislative session to vote on Gov. Abigail Spanberger's amendments to the Virginia budget, Monday, June 29, 2026 at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via Getty Images)
Mike Kropf | Richmond Times-dispatch | Getty Images
Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas has been charged in a federal indictment with leading an alleged marijuana racketeering conspiracy that included members of her family, according to court documents made public on Thursday.
Lucas, an 82-year-old and one of the top elected Democrats in Virginia, is a critic of President Donald Trump. She was an architect of efforts in Virginia to redraw the state's congressional districts in a way that would have boosted chances for Democrats to gain a majority of House seats from the state.
The case, which also charges members of Lucas' family, was made public by the Department of Justice less than two weeks before the midterm elections, which will determine what political party controls both chambers of Congress.
Lucas is in custody with the other defendants, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced at a press conference Thursday.
"We don't do political paybacks," Blanche said, when asked about criticism from Lucas's attorney that the case is politically motivated. Blanche noted that the investigation of Lucas began before the current Trump administration, and that a federal grand jury had determined there was enough evidence to indict her.
She is scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, at 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday.
Lucas, the state Senate's president pro tempore and chairman of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, is not on the ballot this year.
The indictment says that Lucas "was the leader of the enterprise," that she "arranged for the acquisition and distribution of marijuana, supervises the laundering of marijuana proceeds," and "used her political influence to attempt to influence Virginia legislation for the benefit of herself and her family and maintained a premise for the distribution of marijuana."
The indictment was issued by a grand jury on Oct. 14, but was only unsealed Thursday.
The charges come five months after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Lucas' Portsmouth office.
At the time of that raid, Lucas issued a statement, saying, "Today's actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people."
"What we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration: when challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them," Lucas said.
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