FBI raids office of Virginia Democratic senator who championed the state’s redrawn congressional map
by Kerry Picket, Matt Delaney · The Washington TimesThe FBI on Wednesday raided Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas’ office and cannabis dispensary business as part of a major corruption probe, sources told The Washington Times.
Ms. Lucas, a Democrat who serves as the Senate president pro tempore, is under investigation for an alleged bribery scheme involving cannabis licenses, a source familiar with the matter told The Times.
The cannabis dispensary, which Ms. Lucas co-owns, is next door to the senator’s office.
The FBI raided 10 locations with court-approved federal search warrants related to the bribery investigation, which started during the Biden administration.
“The FBI is executing a court-authorized federal search warrant in Portsmouth, Virginia. There is no threat to public safety. This is an ongoing investigation, and no further information is publicly available at this time,” an FBI spokesman said.
The Washington Times reached out to the state senator for comment.
Ms. Lucas, 82, is a veteran of Virginia politics known for her loud and sometimes coarse behavior at political gatherings and on social media.
She debated critics on social media over the Democrats’ partisan redistricting referendum, for which she was a leading advocate, and slammed President Trump, while heckling Republicans with a GIF of herself dancing to Famous Dex’s “Hoes Mad.”
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She is the owner of two businesses: The Cannabis Outlet dispensary and Lucas Lodge, which provides Medicaid-funded services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A longtime supporter of legalizing marijuana, Ms. Lucas opened The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth in July 2021, not long after Virginia legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Cannabis-related products at her shop were sold in a generally unregulated retail environment that existed before Virginia set up a legal recreational cannabis marketplace. The business operated as a hemp/CBD shop, which was considered legal, but the advocacy group Virginians for Safe Cannabis found in 2022 that Ms. Lucas’ business illegally sold products containing THC.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, worked closely with Ms. Lucas during the last legislative session to advance some of the state’s most liberal legislation that reached the governor’s desk. This included a redistricting referendum, gun control legislation and restrictions on detaining criminal illegal immigrants.
“The governor is aware of today’s law enforcement operation in Portsmouth. In the absence of additional details, the governor will not be commenting on a federal investigation at this time,” a Spanberger spokesperson told The Times.
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Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, expressed suspicion of the FBI’s motives and called for Virginians to reserve judgment until all the facts were collected.
“Right now, there is far more theatrics and speculation than actual information available to the public,” he said, adding that more facts were necessary “before anyone rushes to political conclusions.”
State Sen. Mamie Locke, a Democrat, said in a statement that as more information becomes available about the raid, “It is important to take a step back and consider not just the facts of the situation but the broader context in which this is unfolding.”
“This raid comes on the heels of a movement in Virginia where voters overwhelmingly chose to redraw congressional lines in a way that would uphold fair elections in the commonwealth and across the nation. The senator was the brainchild of these efforts and pushed back against President Trump’s many attempts to rig another election,” Ms. Locke said.
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The Virginia Democrat said the raid did not happen “in a vacuum” and “there is a growing pattern of pressure from Trump and his allies to direct federal law enforcement agencies to investigate his political adversaries.”
The context “must be acknowledged,” Rep. Bobby Scott, Virginia Democrat, said on social media.
Ms. Lucas was a leading figure in the Democrats’ drive this year to redraw congressional maps to help her party win more seats in the U.S. House.
She urged Virginians to adopt new congressional maps to combat Mr. Trump and his “shenanigans.”
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Several states have undergone furious redistricting efforts as Republicans and Democrats vie for control of the House in the midterm elections this fall.
Voters approved Virginia’s new congressional map in a high-profile election last month. The state Supreme Court is reviewing the ballot measure’s legality.
Ms. Lucas has been an effective sparring partner against the commonwealth’s Republicans. In 2024, while serving as chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, she stonewalled Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempt to relocate the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to Alexandria.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.