NORFOLK, Va. A Virginia state senator has been charged with damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when a statue was torn down, authorities said Monday. Lucas is a longtime Democratic legislator and a key power broker in the state Senate, joining the chamber in 1992. The monument in Portsmouth consists of a large obelisk and statues of four Confederate military personnel. Felony charges leveled against a sitting state senator are to be taken seriously, and should not be sought out for political gain, he said in a statement. "It is for that reason that the Republican Party of Virginia calls for Senator Lucas to turn herself in.