A few weeks ago, Virginians voted overwhelmingly for a Democratic-loaded redistricting plan. Virginia wasn’t the first state to plan a mid-decade partisan redistricting, but we were the first to make a gerrymandered plan in favor of the Democrats. One of the biggest proponents of the plan was VA Senate Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas, who has become a sort of VA Democratic Party cult figure. She’s 82 years old and she f–king hates Republicans with every fiber of her being, and she does not give a f–k who knows it. Well, just weeks after Lucas’ redistricting plan was passed by Virginia voters, the FBI raided Lucas’ business.
The FBI on Wednesday raided the Portsmouth offices and a cannabis retail business co-owned by state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate and one of the most powerful Democrats in the state, as part of an ongoing corruption investigation, according to two federal law enforcement officials familiar with the matter.
The specifics of the probe remain unclear, though the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the investigation, said it involved allegations of bribery related to the cannabis dispensary. One of those officials said the investigation began during the Biden administration.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Norfolk field office declined to comment, except to say that agents were conducting “court-authorized” law enforcement activity and that there was no threat to public safety.
In a statement Wednesday evening, Lucas suggested the investigation was politically motivated and cited her recent push to have Virginia redraw its congressional districts to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“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 patten from this administration; when challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them,” she said in the statement.
“I was proud to help lead that effort and I have never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump or anyone else that has tried to undermine our democracy,” Lucas said.
Ben Tribbett, Lucas’s longtime political consultant, said the senator was not arrested and was back home by midday. Tribbett said the offices raided were primarily dedicated to Lucas’s various business interests and that no items related to her legislative career were seized.
When I posted something about this on Twitter, MAGAts swarmed into my comments, all mimicking the same talking point about how this investigation started under President Biden. These people are too stupid to understand that Biden didn’t order the FBI to investigate people, and that MAGA terrorists infiltrated the FBI years ago. My point is that it’s beyond clear that this is MAGA political retaliation, targeting an 82-year-old Black Democrat who just screwed over the Republican Party in Virginia for generations. Another big tell that this was all about MAGA fascism: the FBI leaked information about the raid to Fox News, and Fox was the first on the scene for the raid. Meanwhile, Savannah Guthrie’s mom is still missing.
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) May 6, 2026
Reporter: When Lindsay Halligan, a former lawyer of Trump's, had been running the U.S. Attorney Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, she had been pressuring prosecutors to bring charges against Louise Lucas. Halligan believed it would be good for the White House before the… pic.twitter.com/ec81OwRbc9
— FactPost (@factpostnews) May 6, 2026
Photos courtesy of Lucas’ Instagram.
Because Trump has so normalized launching criminal investigations into his opponents, there are now people even on the left who think this is how the criminal justice system works. Just to be clear, even the worst presidents before Trump, with the exception of Nixon, did not do this. The DOJ operates independently of the White House until now. So, when someone asks, “Why didn’t Biden release the Epstein Files?” the answer is that his White House was hands off the Justice Department. And saying that an obviously political investigation “began under Biden” is not the flex they want you to think it is. Also, it is so obvious how they are coming for strong Black women.