A top Democrat’s office has been raided by the FBI in a dramatic corruption investigation.
Virginia Senator Louise Lucas watched stunned as agents tore through her office – as well as a neighboring cannabis dispensary she co-owns in Portsmouth, around 20 miles west of Virginia Beach, on Wednesday.
The FBI raid is linked to a ‘major corruption probe,’ Fox News reported, adding that the bureau is ‘serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next-door cannabis dispensary.’
Lucas, 82, the highest-ranking member of the Virginia Senate as President Pro Tempore, was captured by news cameras arriving on the scene sporting a pink dress and shades as the FBI searched her office.
Lucas told reporters that she did not know the reason for the raid, but a source familiar with the raid told MS NOW that former interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan pressured prosecutors to charge Lucas with a crime ahead of the midterms, even as career prosecutors doubted the case.
The FBI said in a statement it was ‘executing a court-authorized federal search warrant in Portsmouth, VA.’
‘There is no threat to public safety. This is an ongoing investigation and no further information is publicly available at this time,’ the agency added.
Lucas is known for being a colorful character in the Virginia legislature and is a prolific X user. She posted Monday that she was ‘out partying [her] a** off all weekend long, where the h**l were you?’ in response to a meme claiming she had gone ‘missing.’
The office of Virginia state Senator Louise L Lucas has been raided by the FBI in a dramatic corruption investigation
Lucas arriving at her office in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday
The 82-year-old is the highest-ranking member of the Virginia Senate as President Pro Tempore
Although Lucas and Governor Abigail Spanberger are both Democrats, they are not necessarily the best of friends.
Spanberger’s Chief of Staff sued Louise Lucas’ Marketing Director earlier this year, and Lucas was reluctant to endorse Spanberger in her 2025 gubernatorial race.
Lucas had previously been skeptical of Spanberger’s candidacy, as she was a top backer of encouraging Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott to run for the post instead.
Scott chimed in on Wednesday with his own reaction to the raid.
‘While we await the full facts of the investigation, it must be acknowledged that this FBI raid occurs in the broader context of President Trump’s repeated abuse of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political opponents,’ he wrote in a statement.
Scott also called attention to the timing of the raid.
‘It should be noted that this is occurring just two weeks after Senator Lucas helped lead the successful effort by Virginia voters to reject President Trump’s attempt to rig the midterm elections.
‘This raid on Senator Lucas’ office and businesses also comes as President Trump has pressured the Department of Justice to pursue investigations and prosecutions against New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and multiple Democratic Members of Congress,’ he added.
‘Like all Americans, Senator Lucas has a right to due process and a presumption of innocence,’ Scott concluded.
Outside of Spanberger, Lucas has been a vocal thorn in the side of her own party and has made quite a few enemies due to her free-wheeling rhetorical assaults.
Virginia’s US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner were called ‘c**cks’ by Lucas for their initial opposition to Virginia’s congressional redistricting effort.
Lucas co-authored the state’s marijuana legalization law. In 2022, she noted, ‘I sell hemp products and CBD.’
On 4/20, a day that marijuana users celebrate the substance, Lucas shared a graphic that said, ‘I fill my bong with Republican tears.’
The post was also made the day before the voters narrowly approved Virginia’s new 10-1 congressional maps, for which she was a key advocate.
When Texas Senator Ted Cruz blasted her redistricting map, she fired back: ‘You all started it — and we f***ing finished it.’
From attending segregated schools during her education to holding a seat in America’s oldest legislative body, Lucas has had a lengthy career of firsts.
Her political career has included becoming Portsmouth’s first black councilwoman in 1984 and, by 2019, the first woman and first African American to preside over Virginia’s State Senate.
In one dramatic moment after a Confederate statue fell at a 2020 protest she attended, conspiracy charges against her were tossed as baseless.
