Government | Politics 2023: L. LOUISE LUCAS

The undisputed queen of snarky Virginia political tweets, with 90,400 Twitter/X followers, Lucas delights in poking at Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

In June, she pulled off a nailbiter primary victory against longtime Democratic Sen. Lionel Spruill. Although she’s expected to win the general election, she has bigger fish to fry as Democrats aim this fall to hold on to control in the Senate, maintaining what Lucas calls a “blue brick wall” against Republicans’ proposed abortion restrictions.

As president pro tempore and chair of the Senate’s Education and Health Committee, Lucas is a power player who has her eye on chairing the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee after its co-chair, George Barker, lost his primary in June. In April, Lucas said some Northern Virginia Democrats backed Spruill’s campaign to keep her from leading the committee, which negotiates the state budget.

The first female shipfitter at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Lucas is a former Portsmouth City Council member and won her Senate seat in 1991. She has been an administrator at Norfolk State and Old Dominion universities. Co-owner of a cannabis shop in Portsmouth, she helped pass marijuana legalization legislation in 2021.