Can't make changes with _theme.less
To take effect new changes, first of all, you should delete your var/view_preprocessed/pub and pub/static/frontend folders and files using below command :
rm -rf pub/static/frontend/ var/view_preprocessed/pub/
After that you should deploy your static content :
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
then you would see changes you made in _theme.less file.
However, I would recommend you should extend styling using _extend.less, because if you want to use _theme.less file then, first of all, you have to copy all styling which is in Magento luma _theme.less file. And if in future that file changes then you should again copy all content of Magento luma _theme.less file into your _theme.less file.
so the recommendation is to use _extend.less. But in your case above commands will solve the issue.