L. Louise Lucas

Lillie Louise Lucas is an American politician serving as a Virginia state senator, representing the 18th District in the southeast region of the state since 1992. Democrats won a majority of seats in the 2019 Virginia Senate election, so Lucas succeeded Republican Stephen Newman as the Virginia Senate's president pro tempore. She is the first woman and first African American to hold that office. She also chairs the Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the first African American in that role.