Louise Lucas recall, Virginia State Senate (2021)

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Virginia State Senate recall
Officeholders
Louise Lucas
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Virginia Virginia recall laws State legislative recalls Recall reports

An effort to recall Louise Lucas, a member of the Democratic Party, from her elected position representing District 18 in the Virginia State Senate began in June 2021.

Unlike other states that hold recall elections, Virginia has a recall process where citizens submit signatures for a recall trial. Of the 4,652 signatures needed to require a recall trial, recall supporters submitted about 7,000 signatures on June 22, 2021. A judge dismissed the recall petition on July 2, 2021, ending the recall effort. Lucas' lawyers argued that Virginia's recall law does not apply to state lawmakers since the state's constitution has a process to remove them from office. The judge agreed with the lawyers for Sen. Lucas.

Recall supporters criticized Lucas for attending a Confederate monument protest on June 10, 2020, where a monument was torn down and a resident was injured.

Lucas was first elected to the state Senate in 1991. She was re-elected to a four-year term in 2019 with 93% of the vote.

Background

On June 10, 2020, Lucas attended a protest against Confederate monuments in Portsmouth, Virginia. According to a video taken by police officers, Lucas told the officers they could not arrest protestors who were planning to paint a Confederate monument. Later that day, after Lucas had left the area, protestors pulled the monument down and one person suffered a critical head injury. On August 17, 2020, the Portsmouth Police Department charged Lucas with conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument causing more than $1,000 in damage. According to The Washington Post, Lucas' attorney issued the following statement, "[the charges are] a political stunt meant to weaponize the criminal justice system against African Americans."

On November 16, 2020, Judge Claire Cardwell dismissed the charges against Lucas. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cardwell "expressed concern that Portsmouth police had filed the charges without the approval of local prosecutors and had attempted to block [Stephanie] Morales [the commonwealth’s attorney for Portsmouth] from prosecuting the case by trying to subpoena her as a witness."

Recall supporters

The recall effort was filed by Nelson Velez on June 22, 2021. The petition listed the following reasons for recall:

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Virginia

Virginia requires recall petitions to be signed by residents of the official's jurisdiction equal in number to 10% of the votes cast in the last election for that office.

Supporters of the recall effort were required to submit 4,652 signatures to require a recall trial. On June 22, 2021, Nelson Velez filed the recall petition in Chesapeake Circuit Court. Velez said about 7,000 signatures were submitted. A judge dismissed the recall petition on July 2.

If enough signatures were validated, a trial would have been held in a circuit court to determine if Lucas should be removed from office. At the trial, recall supporters would have had to "demonstrate the officer engaged in neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance."

Election history

2019

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2019

General election

General election for Virginia State Senate District 18

Incumbent Louise Lucas won election in the general election for Virginia State Senate District 18 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Louise Lucas (D)	92.5	43,021
		Other/Write-in votes	7.5	3,494

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 46,515
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2015

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2015

Elections for the Virginia State Senate took place in 2015. A primary election was held on June 9, 2015. The general election took place on November 3, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 26, 2015. Incumbent Louise Lucas was unopposed in the Democratic primary. No Republican candidates filed for election. Lucas was unchallenged in the general election.

2011

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2011

On November 8, 2011, Lucas won re-election to District 18 of the Virginia State Senate. She was unchallenged in the August 23 primary and ran unopposed in the November 8 general election.

2007

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2007

On Nov. 6, 2007, Lucas won re-election to the 18th District Seat in the Virginia State Senate.

Virginia State Senate, District 18 (2007)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Louise Lucas (D)		20,260	98.48%
Write-in		311	1.51%

Historical state legislative recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 145 recall efforts against 138 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2020. During that time, 39 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.

Michigan led the way with 37 state legislative recall efforts from 1913 to 2020. Of those 37 recall efforts, three were successful. Wisconsin followed with 30 state legislative recall efforts. Six of those recalls were successful.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Virginia
• Political recall efforts, 2021
• State legislative recalls

External links

• Louise Lucas' Senate profile