The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious letters mailed across the United States to state election offices and members of Congress, some of them containing an unknown white, powdery substance, according to the FBI statement quoted by multiple outlets and reporting by CT News Junkie. More than 100 suspicious letters have been mailed nationwide, Votebeat reported, though it is not clear how many went to election officials rather than to politicians or other recipients.
“The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices,” the FBI said in a statement quoted in the Texas Gazette's account of NBC News reporting. “We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters.” The bureau has called the mailings serious federal crimes that will be investigated and prosecuted, ABC13 reported via the same account. No sender has been identified in the sources cited, and no motive has been established.
Election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma were evacuated on Tuesday after employees found envelopes containing a suspicious white powder, CT News Junkie reported; tests on the envelope delivered to the Louisiana Secretary of State's elections division in Baton Rouge found no evidence of harmful substances, WBRZ reported. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' office was also evacuated after a letter containing white powder that was later found to be harmless, and election offices in Wisconsin and Nebraska received letters — the one to Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen's office being the second since 2024. Letters bound for Ohio, New Hampshire, Washington state, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Idaho and South Dakota were intercepted before they arrived, as was a threatening letter containing powder intercepted before it reached Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's office, the Mesabi Tribune reported via CT News Junkie.
Federal authorities intercepted a suspicious letter addressed to Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas's office this week, her office said, adding that preliminary testing of substances recovered in several states has found no hazardous materials. In New Jersey, the Postal Service intercepted a suspicious envelope targeting Democratic U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross before it reached his Cherry Hill office, NJ Today reported, and the Senate Sergeant at Arms warned Senate offices that “it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.” Many envelopes were processed through a North Texas mail processing center and marked “Thinking of You,” NJ Today reported.
Source: NJ Today — Weeks before election, suspicious packages received by Members of Congress, Oct. 21, 2026
NBC News reported that identified targets include at least 26 state election offices and the offices of at least 22 congressional Democrats, seven of them senators, among them Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Texas Gazette said. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Mike Rounds of South Dakota confirmed they were also targeted, along with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; Ricketts said authorities confirmed the substance sent to his Omaha office “was not harmful.” At least some letters carried threats, according to the same reporting: Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Michigan Democrat, said a letter to her Grand Rapids office made a direct reference to an impending “civil war” beginning after the election, CBS News Detroit reported. The letter claimed to be from the Democratic Socialists of America; the group told the station the return address used was a former DSA office it has not occupied in more than a decade and said, “Needless to say, we are not involved with these letters.” That claimed authorship is an allegation in the letter itself, not a finding by investigators.
The mailings arrive less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, while early voting is under way in many states. Officials in the states cited said staff followed security instructions for suspicious mail, and the FBI asked anyone with information to come forward. Investigators have not announced any arrest or identified any suspect in the sources cited as of Thursday afternoon.
What is solid
- The FBI and Postal Inspection Service are investigating suspicious mailings to Secretary of State and election offices nationwide, per the FBI statement quoted by multiple outlets.
- Louisiana and Oklahoma election offices were evacuated Tuesday over powder envelopes; preliminary tests reported so far found no hazardous material and no injuries were reported — state officials via CT News Junkie / WBRZ.
- Targets span both parties, including at least 26 state election offices and congressional Democrats and Republicans — NBC News via Texas Gazette.
What is only claimed
- Who sent the letters and why is not established — no suspect or motive has been announced. A claim of authorship inside one letter (attributed to the DSA) is denied by that group and is not an investigators' finding.