FBI Investigates Suspicious Letters Mailed to Congressional and Election Offices Nationwide

The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Capitol Police are investigating suspicious letters mailed to congressional and election offices across the United States. The probe follows an incident on October 13 in which a package with an unknown white powder was found at the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office in Baton Rouge, prompting an evacuation. Similar incidents have been reported in Oklahoma, Ohio, and other states. Federal officials have not confirmed any arrests and the investigation is ongoing, with the incidents occurring less than three weeks before the November 3 election.

Federal agencies have opened inquiries into a series of letters sent to congressional and election offices nationwide, following an incident two days earlier in which an envelope containing an unidentified white powder forced staff to vacate the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office in Baton Rouge. Investigators from three federal bodies — the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Capitol Police — are working to identify the source of the mailings, which were recovered at election offices in multiple states, including Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Details of the inquiry reached the public after a broadcaster obtained a Senate Sergeant at Arms communication on October 15. Around 12:20 p.m. that Tuesday — October 13 — a staff member working within the Elections Division at the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office opened a package and found an unidentified white powder inside.

Workers vacated the Elections Division offices and ventilation throughout the building was shut down as a precaution, according to a statement Secretary of State Nancy Landry released on Tuesday. The office is situated along Essen Lane in Baton Rouge. Workers gathered outside the building for a prolonged period, though management kept them on duty rather than releasing them for the day. No order requiring all staff to leave the Secretary of State's Office was put in place.

FBI agents were on the scene to carry out testing of the unknown material. Authorities confirmed that no injuries were sustained. No details about the substance's origin or the identity of whoever sent the package have been made available to the public, and the material itself remains unidentified.

Federal investigators are examining a series of mailings sent to addresses nationwide, including state election offices, the FBI confirmed Thursday. The bureau noted in a statement that an unknown substance was found in some of the correspondence and that coordination with law enforcement partners is underway both to address each incident and to identify those responsible. Separately, the Senate Sergeant at Arms notified congressional offices that additional pieces of mail fitting that description could reach recipients even as law enforcement moves to intercept them.

Federal officials advised anyone who received one of the mailings to treat it as though it posed a health or safety threat. Employees at an Oklahoma election office vacated the building after a package delivered there was found to contain an unidentified white powder. A package containing white powder, addressed to that state's election office, was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Service, according to Ohio's secretary of state. Authorities in a number of states have received accounts of comparable correspondence being distributed through the mail.

No public statement has been released by investigators linking the packages to a single origin or confirming that their contents matched. The incidents occurred with approximately three weeks remaining before the November 3 election.

Across six states, election offices encountered comparable packages during 2023. Investigators found that a portion of that correspondence had been laced with fentanyl, an opioid, and included written threats. Following those alerts, a number of election offices acquired naloxone — a drug used to counteract opioid overdoses — as a precautionary measure. As of this week, no official verification has come forward establishing that fentanyl was among the contents of the packages intercepted in the current incidents.

A joint statement from two election-administration bodies — the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors — called on relevant authorities to ensure that poll workers can carry out their responsibilities without facing threats to their physical safety. On Thursday, Deputy Postal Inspector Brendan Donahue also objected to the incidents, stating that no threat or attack directed at election officials could be considered acceptable.

No detention notices or public naming of a suspect have come from the federal investigation into the mailings. Inquiries into the matter have yet to reach a conclusion.