Suspicious Letters Hit Election Offices in 15+ States

Dozens of letters containing white powder have reached congressional and state election offices around the country, prompting federal investigators to race to intercept more before Election Day, now less than three weeks away. Three law enforcement sources told NBC News that preliminary testing found the powder wasn't hazardous. Law enforcement laboratories nationwide will conduct further testing.

The FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating, according to a notice sent Thursday to senior staff in Senate offices. The notice offered a blunt warning: "Law enforcement officials are working to intercept any additional letters before they are delivered, however, it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations." Two law enforcement sources confirmed that "dozens of letters" had been sent, but declined to say how many officials had received or seized.

Who Is Targeted

Election offices in at least 15 states reported receiving suspicious packages: Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin. The FBI said the mailings went to "various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices." The agency added that "some of the letters contained an unknown substance" and said it is working with partners to identify whoever is responsible.

Several Democratic senators' offices also received letters. A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said authorities intercepted a letter addressed to him. A spokesperson for Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said the FBI told the office that the U.S. Postal Service had intercepted a letter containing a suspicious substance. Sen. Chris Murphy's spokesperson, Josh Sorbe, said the FBI, Capitol Police and the sergeant at arms notified the Hartford, Connecticut, office about a letter. Murphy and his staff "were not in immediate danger," Sorbe said.

The Safeguards Behind the Mail

The Senate notice included an image of a suspicious envelope and said the letters "may contain different variations of postage stamps." It warned that suspicious letters, packages or substances "should be treated as potentially hazardous and handled in accordance with established safety protocols." Officials screen and test mail and packages delivered to Senate offices or the Capitol complex for potential threats, the notice said.

The House sergeant at arms sent lawmakers and staff a similar notice Thursday. Capitol mail and packages undergo rigorous screening, it said, while district offices should follow safe mail-handling procedures, including the "mail hoods" supplied by the sergeant at arms. Two congressional offices that shared the message with NBC News said the equipment lets staff handle mail without exposure to danger. The House notice said officials had not identified any House members as intended recipients.

The Senate notice didn't say whether the targeted offices were in Washington or in the states. That distinction matters. Congress is on recess before the midterms, and most lawmakers are in their districts campaigning, while congressional staff remain on the Capitol campus.

NBC News reported Wednesday that state election offices in Louisiana, Ohio and Oklahoma had received packages containing mysterious powders that week. Oklahoma and Louisiana received envelopes. Ohio said Postal Service investigators intercepted a package destined for the state. A correction dated Oct. 15, 2026, at 5:23 p.m. ET clarified that the Oklahoma recipient was the state Election Board, not the secretary of state's office, since the board handles election oversight there.

What Investigators Say

Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told NBC News that a crime may have occurred even if the letters prove harmless or turn out to be a hoax. "There's several different statutes that may come into play here, whether that's mailing a threat or mailing something believed to be a hazardous substance," he said. "And that could be five to 20 years behind bars."

Pack said the Postal Inspection Service and FBI have developed expertise investigating suspicious letters and can trace mail to its origin. "They'll be able to go back and do investigations based on where these pieces of mail originated and then work backwards," he said. "In pretty short order, I would think [they would] find out at least a bit more information about who sent it." Pack said the motive is unclear, but "the timing is somewhat suspicious with the election ahead of us."

Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting is already underway in numerous states. Threats against election workers have increased in recent years, the article noted, including incidents involving suspicious substances mailed to their offices in 2023 and in the weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

Why This Matters:

The people opening this mail aren't political figures. They're election staff, many of them public employees, handling envelopes of unknown content while voters cast ballots. Even if every powder tests as harmless, the fear is real, and election workers who keep voting running bear the burden. The incidents in 2023 and 2024 make this the third time in as many election cycles that suspicious substances have reached election offices. A pattern like that tests whether public institutions can protect the people who administer democracy.

Screening systems, mail hoods and coordination among agencies are doing that work now. Whether those measures are enough, and whether people who send such letters face the five-to-20-year penalties experts describe, will shape how safe election workers feel long after Nov. 3.