ment and ensure those responsible for criminal conduct are held accountable. 

Lucas has been a leading voice in Democrats' ultimately failed attempt to redistrict the state's congressional map this year, a bid to hedge against Republican efforts in other states to redraw maps for their advantage in midterm elections.

A forceful advocate of legalizing marijuana, Lucas partnered in opening the shop, The Cannabis Outlet, in 2021, selling hemp and CBD products. While marijuana is legal to possess in Virginia, recreational retail sales of the drug are not yet underway, though shops across the state do sell other cannabis-derived products.

Lucas also runs a network of companies that provide residential, transportation and other services to adults with intellectual disabilities.

Court records related to the case for months have been sealed, though earlier this year the Department of Justice sent at least two rounds of letters notifying journalists, politicians and others in Lucas' orbit that their communications with Lucas had been intercepted as part of a court-approved wiretap that ran for two one-month time spans.

At the time of the search, many Democrats spoke up to defend Lucas, expressing skepticism about the basis for the search, given the Department of Justice's efforts to establish criminal conduct by perceived Trump opponents.

Lucas has publicly spoken about her ownership stake in the cannabis shop as recently as June, though her most recent financial disclosure forms do not list the business by name.

Lucas, who represents a state Senate district that includes her hometown of coastal Portsmouth, operates with a sometimes-profane, unapologetic style that's drawn comparisons with Trump.

She amassed a six-figure following on X and national attention, using the social media platform to advocate forcefully for her priorities and to bash her critics, including former GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She's also occasionally blasted members of her own party, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, with whom she's had disagreements.

Earlier this year, Lucas helped lead Democrats' ultimately unsuccessful plan to gerrymander the blue-leaning state's congressional districts into a map intended to elect 10 Democrats and only one Republican. Along the way, she posted quips about four GOP members the intended map sought to oust, joking that they soon would be working at McDonald's. She and other Democrats defended the maps as a reasonable response to Trump-backed efforts to boost the GOP's midterm advantage in other states.

Lucas has been in politics for decades

Lucas has notched several historic firsts in her career. According to a biography from the state library, in 1971 she became the Norfolk Naval Shipyard's first female shipfitter, a physically demanding job that involves working on metal assemblies for vessels.

She launched her political career in 1984, when, the biography said, she became the first Black woman elected to the Portsmouth city council.

In her decades in the state Senate, Lucas has been a staunch advocate for abortion rights and increased public school funding and a leading voice on issues of racial justice and civil rights.

In 2019, after Democrats flipped control of the chamber, her peers elected her to serve as president pro tempore. And in 2024, she was tapped to lead the chamber's budget committee, gaining enormous sway over any legislation tied to the state budget. In that post, she played a leading role in killing Youngkin's proposal to bring Washington's NBA and NHL teams to a proposed $2 billion development in Virginia.