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Sens. Louise Lucas and Lionell Spruill aren’t afraid of a fight.
Many legislators moved or declined to seek reelection after once-a-decade redistricting left some incumbents of the same party within the same boundary lines.
But Lucas and Spruill, both longtime legislators in Hampton Roads, are instead going head-to-head in the June 20 Democratic primary for the newly drawn District 18, which encompasses parts of Portsmouth and Chesapeake.
The race has garnered plenty of publicity, with attack ads running on TV and campaign donations pouring in to both campaigns. The Virginia Public Access Project reported that Lucas and Spruill had raised $1,040,423 and $855,620, respectively, as of March 31.
[ 2023 Virginian-Pilot Primary Election Guide ]
The primary has at times grown heated, even catching four Democratic senators from Northern Virginia in its crosshairs when they offered to appear at a fundraiser for Spruill.
Lucas slammed the move as an attempt to undermine her campaign to prevent a Hampton Roads lawmaker from taking on a powerful position. If reelected, Lucas would chair the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, a fact she alleges doesn’t sit well with her colleagues from Northern Virginia.
Here’s what the candidates have to say about the primary and why they each think they’re the best choice to represent the district.
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Louise Lucas
Lucas, 79, was first elected to the state Senate in 1992.
She chairs the Education and Health Committee and sits on the Committees for Judiciary, Rules, Commerce and Labor, and Finance and Appropriations.
In recent years, she’s developed a strong social media presence, picking up nearly 90,000 followers on Twitter, an impressive figure for a state politician, and earned a reputation for biting quips that frequently target Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Lucas often paints herself as a fighter, even donning red boxing gloves and stepping into the ring in her latest campaign ads.
“When Republicans came after Obamacare in my committee, I told them hell no,” she says in the commercial. “... I am beating back the Republicans and I won’t stop fighting.”
Lucas is also well-known for her push to bring a casino to Hampton Roads, a goal that came to fruition earlier this year when Rivers Casino opened in Portsmouth. Lucas was among several lawmakers who successfully carried legislation in 2020 that ended the state’s prohibition on casino gaming.
In an interview with The Virginian-Pilot, Lucas said she’s proud of the casino, which brought roughly 1,400 new jobs to Portsmouth, and believes it will provide a long-term economic boost to the city. But she said her main focus has always been students and schools.
“I call myself the education senator,” she said.
Lucas successfully carried several education-related bills this year, including one requiring local school boards to provide reading intervention services to students with substantial deficiencies in fourth to eighth grades. She said the legislation was needed to help students recover from pandemic-related learning loss.
If reelected, Lucas said she would continue focusing on education.
“I want to make sure we have career technical education in Hampton Roads, specifically for Chesapeake and Portsmouth,” she said.
Lucas said working to keep abortion services legal in Virginia would be another priority. The senator co-sponsored a constitutional amendment this year — which Republicans shot down — stating an individual has the right to make all decisions related to their pregnancy.
“I am going to work to make sure that we remain a place where not only women from Virginia but women from other states can come and feel safe and receive the services they need,” she said.
Many southern states have enacted strict abortion restrictions in the last year, but Virginia still allows the procedure in the first and second trimester — or in the third if the woman’s health is at risk. But Youngkin has said he’ll push to restrict abortion access if Republicans gain control of the Senate in November.
Lucas added she and Spruill discussed whether one of them should step aside. But she said she couldn’t pass over the opportunity to lead the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Legislators from Northern Virginia have headed the committee for decades, she said. She believes this gives their region an advantage during the state’s budget negotiations, which are spearheaded by the committee and its counterpart in the House of Delegates. If reelected, Lucas would become the most senior committee member and take on the role of chair.
“It’s time for Hampton Roads to shine,” she said. “That is why I’m working so hard (to win) because it’s for Hampton Roads. This is bigger than me.”
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Lionell Spruill
Spruill, 76, was first elected to the state Senate in 2016.
He began his political career in 1988 when he was elected to the Chesapeake City Council. He later served in the House of Delegates from 1994 to 2016.
He chairs the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee and sits on five other committees: Rules; Transportation; Local Government; Commerce and Labor; and Rehabilitation and Social Services.
In contrast to Lucas’s image as a fighter, Spruill has recently stressed the importance of party unity and working across the aisle.
When Lucas alleged some Democrats don’t want a Hampton Roads legislator leading the finance committee, Spruill’s office responded with a brief statement explaining he believed it was important for Democrats to put up a united front.
Spruill has also highlighted his ability to work with the governor. He began meeting with Youngkin last month to try and negotiate some changes to the governor’s new voting rights restoration policy.
Those with a felony conviction automatically lose the right to vote in Virginia. The only way to restore it is by receiving approval from the governor after completing sentencing requirements. The three previous administrations each pushed to streamline the process, but Youngkin quietly implemented a new policy that considers each application individually on unspecified criteria.
Spruill said the new process is taking Virginia backward by halting or drastically slowing voter restoration and disenfranchising residents who’ve already served their time.
He’s met twice with the governor in the past few weeks and said they’ve made meaningful progress and plan to meet again.
“I told the governor that I know he has the right (to change the policy),” Spruill said. “I told him I was there to appeal to his heart — I think that softened him up.”
If reelected, Spruill said he would continue working to protect voting rights for all residents.
Another priority, he said, would be reducing taxes. The senator believes Virginians are overtaxed and wants to work with localities to help lower real estate taxes.
“Some people are paying more taxes now than they paid on the house,” he said. “Especially if you’ve been in the house 30-35 years, why in the world can’t those real estate taxes be reduced?”
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The senator also plans to push to eliminate taxes on cars that have been owned for several years.
“Once you buy a car and that car is eight years old, you shouldn’t have to pay taxes on that car,” he said.
Spruill added that he never considered stepping aside.
The senator said Lucas called him and suggested he should move and run in a different district. But he said there’s no reason he should be expected to back down.
The new district includes about 71,000 voters from Spruill’s old district and 61,000 from Lucas’ former district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
“Why have I got to move?” Spruill asked. “I just got a couple new precincts (from redistricting) that I used to represent when I was on the City Council. It’s the same folks that I’ve been representing all my life.”
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com