On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a slew of charges against Virginia State Sen. Louise Lucas (D), a critic of President Donald Trump and a proponent of redistricting that was attempted earlier this year in response to overtly partisan GOP gerrymandering efforts elsewhere in the country.

The DOJ indictment includes charges of racketeering, money laundering, and unlawful marijuana distribution. Six individuals were charged along with Lucas, including some members of her family.

Lucas, the president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, has denied the charges levied against her, claiming they were issued for political reasons.

“I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now,” she said in a statement posted to X.

“I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down,” Lucas added.

Generally, to avoid the appearance of partisanship, the DOJ will not issue charges against politicians within a 60-day window of elections. However, Attorney General Todd Blanche dismissed those concerns, claiming that the Justice Department didn’t have to follow that standard.

“It’s not even a rule, it’s a practice,” Blanche said at the press briefing announcing the charges against Lucas.

In 2024, however, then-candidate for president Donald Trump disagreed. When charges against him were unsealed within a month of Election Day that year, Trump cited the rule as proof that the DOJ, under the Biden administration, was engaging in “election interference.” Blanche was Trump’s legal counsel at that time.

(Notably, the circumstances in that situation were much different, as the charges against Trump in the election subversion case were issued outside of the 60-day window, but delays due to appeals from his legal team resulted in their being unsealed much later.)

The indictment against Lucas comes just a week and a half after federal agents raided the Washington, D.C. residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), another vocal critic of the president and a frequent target of his rage-filled social media posts. This past week, border czar Tom Homan confirmed that the investigation into Omar stems from supposed questions relating to her initial application for U.S. citizenship, despite previous investigations into the matter yielding no evidence of wrongdoing by her when she applied as a minor. Homan said that the administration is looking into plans to “denaturalize” Omar.

In an interview on Wednesday, Omar indicated that she would not move back into the residence that was raided, saying that attention on her home has made her feel unsafe there. She added that she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong,” regarding her application to be a citizen over two decades ago.

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