FBI investigates suspicious letters mailed to senators and election offices weeks before the midterms

Federal investigators are tracing a wave of suspicious letters mailed to congressional offices and state election offices across the country less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said Thursday that some of the envelopes held an unknown substance. Anyone who gets suspect mail has been told to treat it as potentially hazardous.

Senior Senate staff learned of the case Thursday morning in a notice from the Senate Sergeant at Arms. It said the FBI and the Capitol Police were working with postal inspectors to stop more letters before delivery but warned that some could still get through. The notice carried a picture of one envelope and said the letters might bear different kinds of postage stamps.

Democratic senators among the targets

Several Democratic senators were on the list. A letter addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was caught before it arrived, his office said. A spokesperson for Sen. Alex Padilla of California said the FBI told his team that one of his offices had been sent a letter with a suspicious substance that the Postal Service intercepted.

Sen. Chris Murphy's Hartford office in Connecticut was also sent one. His spokesman said the senator and his staff were never in immediate danger. In Dover, Delaware, a letter holding white powder reached the office of Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester but staff never opened it, her spokesperson said. At least four Democratic Senate offices were targeted and most of those envelopes were pulled from the mail stream.

Law enforcement sources said dozens of letters went out but would not give a precise count because more are still being seized. The House Sergeant at Arms told members that no House lawmaker had been identified as an intended recipient. District offices were urged to open mail under protective screening hoods that the chamber provides.

Election offices evacuated

State election offices began reporting incidents on Tuesday. The Oklahoma State Election Board cleared its office that morning after an envelope with white powder arrived. State troopers later determined the material was not hazardous. In Louisiana a worker in the Elections Division opened a package and found white powder. Secretary of State Nancy Landry said tests turned up nothing harmful and no one was hurt.

Postal inspectors intercepted a package headed for the Ohio secretary of state and another bound for Pennsylvania's state department. Delaware's Department of Elections said it opened a letter Thursday that turned out to contain a white powdery substance. In Cook County, Illinois, Treasurer Maria Pappas got an envelope filled with nothing but white powder. Her office said it was baking powder.

Three law enforcement sources said early tests on the powder have come back non-hazardous. Labs around the country are still running more analysis to make sure none of the letters contain anything dangerous.

Investigators hunt for the sender

Brendan Donahue, a deputy chief inspector at the Postal Inspection Service, told reporters that investigators would put their full resources behind the cases and said any attack on an election official is unacceptable. He would not say how many incidents there have been or whether they are connected. The FBI said in a statement that it is working with partners to identify whoever mailed the letters.

The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors said in a joint statement that they are deeply concerned. The groups said the people who run elections should never have to fear for their safety while doing their jobs.

Congress is on recess for the campaign so most lawmakers are back home while staff keep working at the Capitol. Mail sent to Senate offices and the Capitol complex is already screened and tested before it is delivered.

Powder mailings have shadowed recent election years. At least 14 election offices received such letters during the 2024 cycle and some of that powder proved to be flour. In 2023 offices in six states got similar mail and a few envelopes held traces of fentanyl.