Suspicious letters hit two dozen state election offices and congressional offices as FBI investigates

Federal investigators are chasing a fast-widening wave of suspicious mail sent to state election offices and congressional offices in at least two dozen states, a case that by Friday had drawn in Republican and Democratic senators alike and put election workers on edge less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms.

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, working with U.S. Capitol Police and local departments, said they are trying to identify who mailed the letters, which authorities described as containing an unknown powdery substance. No injuries have been confirmed, and preliminary field tests on the material recovered so far have come back negative for known hazards, but the scale and speed of the mailings have alarmed lawmakers in both parties and reopened a now-familiar form of intimidation aimed at the machinery of American elections.

By Friday afternoon, NBC News reported the list of recipients had grown to include Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Rounds of South Dakota on the Republican side, along with at least seven Democratic senators and roughly two dozen House Democrats. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California independent who caucuses with Republicans, said his district office also received one of the envelopes.

What investigators know so far

The exact origin of the mailings remains unclear, and officials have been careful not to speculate publicly about a motive or a suspect. One detail investigators are examining, according to reporting carried by NPR member stations, is a return label on at least one intercepted envelope that read "DSA" alongside a New York City address — the kind of detail that investigators have not confirmed is connected to the actual sender, and officials have cautioned against reading too much into a label that can easily be forged or spoofed.

What is established is the geographic sweep of the operation. State election offices in Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and more than twenty other states have reported receiving the letters, and Capitol Hill mail-screening operations have intercepted a number of others before they reached members' desks. In Louisiana, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Nancy Landry's office said an employee who opened one of the letters on Tuesday was taken to a hospital as a precaution but was not injured, and that investigators found no evidence the substance was actually hazardous.

The numbers

The scope has grown visibly within a span of roughly 48 hours. ABC News reported Thursday evening that preliminary estimates put the number of letters moving through the mail system at more than 100, with election offices in at least 15 states identified as recipients at that point. By Friday, NBC News's count had climbed to at least 26 state election offices and at least 22 offices belonging to congressional Democrats, on top of the Republican senators who came forward separately. One law-enforcement source described to NBC a wave of "dozens and dozens of letters," while cautioning that "everyone is at a loss at the scope of this, and no one knows where this is coming from."

• At least 26 state election offices across the country have reported receiving suspicious letters as of Friday.
• At least 22 offices of congressional Democrats and four Republican senators have been named as recipients.
• Preliminary estimates put the total number of letters moving through the mail system at more than 100.
• The mailings arrived roughly 18 days before the Nov. 3 general election, as early voting is already underway in many states.

A recurring threat to election workers

This is not the first time election offices have been targeted with suspicious mail in the run-up to a major election. Similar waves hit secretary-of-state offices in at least 15 states in September 2024 and in several states in November 2023, incidents that in some cases turned out to involve flour or other inert powders rather than anything dangerous. Election administrators and advocacy groups have warned for several years that threats and harassment aimed at the people who run American elections have become a chronic hazard of the job, intensifying every cycle since 2020.

The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, which represent the officials most directly exposed to this pattern, have repeatedly condemned such campaigns. In a joint statement, the groups said "those who administer our elections should never fear for their safety while carrying out their essential duties" — language nearly identical to statements the two organizations issued after earlier mailing waves, underscoring how routine this particular form of intimidation has become even as each new incident draws fresh alarm.

Election administrators have been bracing for this cycle in particular. A 2022 survey cited by election-security researchers found that nearly a quarter of local election officials nationwide had already experienced threats, harassment or abuse tied directly to their jobs, a figure officials in both parties have cited as justification for stepped-up federal grants to harden polling places and election offices against physical threats. This week's mailings land squarely inside that pattern, but the sheer number of jurisdictions hit within a single news cycle — more than two dozen state election offices alongside dozens of congressional offices — is unusual even by the standard of recent election cycles.

Lawmakers describe being targeted

On Capitol Hill, the response cut across party lines. Sen. Mike Rounds, whose Sioux Falls office was evacuated Friday after a letter believed to contain a suspicious substance arrived, said in a statement posted to his official Senate website that his staff followed protocols from U.S. Capitol Police and called the Sioux Falls Police Department, which responded and cleared the building. Rounds called the incident "deeply concerning" and part of a pattern of "intimidating tactics" aimed at his team, adding a blunt rebuke of whoever is responsible:

"This has no place in our nation. America is better than this."

Sen. Ted Cruz struck a similar note, writing in a statement from his official account that "attempts to intimidate your political opponents have no place in our country." Rep. Kiley, whose California office was also hit, said "no one should have to worry for their safety simply because they go to work for the American people." Sen. Susan Collins's letters were intercepted by Capitol Police before delivery, according to her chief of staff, Katie Brown, who said no one in the office was harmed. Sen. Pete Ricketts, whose Omaha office was also targeted, said local police, the FBI and Capitol Police all confirmed the substance recovered there was not harmful, while Democratic senators including Chuck Schumer, Alex Padilla and Amy Klobuchar were also listed among the recipients, according to NBC News's tally — a detail Capitol Hill aides on both sides pointed to as evidence the mailings were not targeting one party over the other.

Who is affected, and what happens next

The immediate burden has fallen on congressional staff and state election workers, many of whom are already stretched thin administering early voting in the final weeks before Election Day. Offices that received the letters have had to pause normal operations for evacuations and law-enforcement sweeps, and Senate and House sergeant-at-arms notices this week advised all offices to treat unexpected mail with heightened caution and, where possible, to route district office mail through centralized screening before it reaches staff.

No arrests have been announced, and officials caution that forensic analysis of the recovered material — underway at law-enforcement laboratories — will take time to complete. The FBI said only that it is "working with partners to identify" who is responsible, without offering a timeline. For now, investigators are treating the mailings as a single coordinated pattern rather than isolated local incidents, given the near-simultaneous appearance of letters in states and congressional offices with no obvious connection to one another beyond the timing, three weeks before a midterm election that both parties regard as pivotal to control of Congress.

Whether the investigation yields a suspect before voters go to the polls on Nov. 3 remains an open question. In the meantime, the episode has added a layer of physical-security anxiety to an election cycle already marked by heated rhetoric, record early-voting turnout in several states, and warnings from both parties about the integrity and safety of the voting process itself.