Louise Lucas becomes kryptonite to Ted Leonsis
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Louise Lucas isn't pulling punches. Photo: Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images
An 80-year-old veteran of Richmond politics has become D.C.'s unlikely hero — and, so far, a nightmare for Ted Leonsis' plans of a new arena in Alexandria.
Why it matters: Sen. L. Louise Lucas, a Democrat from Southeast Virginia, controls a powerful committee that can make or break Gov. Glenn Youngkin's proposal to build the arena, and she is a "hell no" on the legislation.
State of play: Lucas is a godsend for Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washingtonians who have turned on Monumental Sports for trying to relocate the Capitals and Wizards, and Alexandria NIMBYs who want the teams to stay in downtown D.C.
A glossary of what she has said since putting the deal on ice last week:
- "This is not a good deal for Virginia" to reporters on Sunday.
- "Let's compete by both offering $0 in taxpayer dollars" — a message to Bowser, basically challenging her to withdraw the city's $500 million offer to stay in Chinatown. (Bowser's office is mum on all this.)
- And laying down the gauntlet: "The last thing anybody should ever try to do is bully me," Lucas tweeted on Sunday. "I was a teenage mother who broke the gender barrier with a physical job at the shipyard. At 80 years old I will kick their ass and make sure everyone is watching."
It was a cryptic comment that ended with, "Not calling any names YET but you know who you are."
Context: Lucas, the first Black woman to be president pro tempore of the Virginia senate, has an incredible life story. She grew up as the oldest in a family with seven children. Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where at the time water fountains were still segregated, as told in the Washington Post last year.
- Lucas became a single mother by 14. She dropped out of high school and by the time she turned 21, she was married with three kids. Then she got a job at Norfolk's male-dominated shipyard.
- A civic force, she climbed the local political ladder in Portsmouth, and over the years became a businesswoman. They once called her "the casino lady" for her support of expanding gambling. She was elected to the statehouse in 1991.
Between the lines: Even though the House of Delegates passed its version of the arena legislation, Lucas chairs the Senate's influential finance committee, where she has said it will wither.
- House Speaker Don Scott said Lucas isn't alone in her misgivings about the legislation. "She makes no moves that are just her," Scott told Fox5.
Yes, but: Despite all this, some Democrats want a compromise. Sen. Scott Surovell is one of them.
- "I think that this presents a potentially extremely promising opportunity for our commonwealth and it's something we need to have serious dialogue about," he tells me.
But it may take Youngkin swallowing his pride and sitting down with Lucas. Democrats, after all, have their own agenda items they want done (marijuana tax and sales, $15 minimum wage). That calls for some good old-fashioned horsetrading.
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