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Gone quiet · last update Oct 15, 2026 / Federal Bureau of Investigation

The letters with suspicious substances sent to election offices before the 2026 midterms

Overview · reviewed October 21, 2026

In mid-October 2026, weeks before the midterm elections, election offices in several states received letters containing a powdery white substance, prompting an investigation by the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service.[1][2] Letters with suspicious substances were also sent to offices on Capitol Hill, and one aimed at Sen. Chris Murphy's office in Hartford, Connecticut, was intercepted.[1]

Read the timeline

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Letters with suspicious substances were also sent to offices on Capitol Hill, and one aimed at Sen. Chris Murphy's office in Hartford, Connecticut, was intercepted.[1]

Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · weekly (UTC)

Week of 2026-10-12 (UTC): 16%, 76 of 476 tracked outlets (20 left, 41 center, 15 right)Week of 2026-10-19 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-10-26 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-11-02 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-11-09 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outlets, so far

LeftCenterRightLighter bar: this week so far

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 3 more outlets off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (1 weeks with coverage)
Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)LeftCenterRightOf trackedShareReceipts
Oct 12, 202620411576 of 47616%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

  1. Oct 15, 2026 · first reported · Headline from NBC Boston

    Letters with ‘suspicious' substance sent to congressional and election offices nationwide

Background

Election officials in several states, among them Oklahoma, Ohio and Louisiana, reported in October 2026 that suspicious letters had arrived at their offices.[1] Louisiana's secretary of state, Nancy Landry, announced on social media that her office had received one, and in Delaware a suspicious envelope was delivered to and opened at the State Election Commissioner's Office.[1] The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service opened an investigation.[1][2]

The Senate Sergeant at Arms told congressional staff that letters containing suspicious substances had been sent to multiple Capitol Hill offices and that law enforcement was working to intercept more before they were delivered.[1] One of the envelopes carried a return address for the headquarters of the Democratic Socialists of America, though it was not clear that the group had any involvement.[1] The reporting did not identify the substance or the sender.

Supporting stories (2)
  1. Authorities investigate letters with ‘suspicious substances’ sent to congressional, election offices
  2. Authorities investigate letters with ‘suspicious substances' sent to election offices

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 2 recorded updates

October 2026

  1. Authorities investigate letters with ‘suspicious substances' sent to election officesHeadline from NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth · 2 outlets
  2. Authorities investigate letters with ‘suspicious substances’ sent to congressional, election officesHeadline from WDIO Duluth · 77 outlets

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →