Powder Letters Hit Six Senate Offices and State Election Boards on the 25th Anniversary of the Anthrax Attacks

The Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, where anthrax-laced mail was opened in October 2001. Architect of the Capitol photo (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).

A quarter-century to the day after an intern in Tom Daschle's office slit open an envelope and anthrax spilled into the Hart Senate Office Building, white powder is moving through the U.S. mail again. This time the list of targets runs past Capitol Hill to the state offices that run America's elections.

The Senate sergeant at arms told staff Thursday that the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating “multiple letters containing suspicious substances that were mailed to various addresses nationwide, including multiple Congressional offices,” according to CQ Roll Call. The same notice carried a warning nobody on the Hill wanted to read: “it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.”

At least six Senate offices were on the receiving end, all belonging to Democrats: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Alex Padilla of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Lisa Blunt Rochester and Chris Coons of Delaware, CBS News reported. Most were stopped before delivery. Not all of them. An aide said the letter addressed to Gillibrand was found at her New York City office, and a Blunt Rochester spokesperson said one of her state offices received an envelope containing white powder that staff did not open.

The House side was spared, so far. The House sergeant at arms said “no House Members have been identified as intended recipients at this time,” per Roll Call.

The vote counters got mail too

Top election officials in at least eight states reported suspicious mail in recent days, CBS found. Delaware's Department of Elections said it “received and opened a letter which was discovered to contain a white powdery substance.” In Louisiana, an Elections Division employee opened a package and found white powder; Secretary of State Nancy Landry said tests found “no evidence of harmful substances.” Oklahoma's State Election Board evacuated its office Tuesday. Wisconsin's Elections Commission said field testing turned up nothing hazardous. Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Ohio and Mississippi said their letters were intercepted before arriving.

Georgia and Nebraska were also targeted, CNN reported, which said no injuries have been reported anywhere. The scale may be far bigger than the names made public. Three election officials briefed on the case told Votebeat they were told more than 100 letters went out, including one to a polling organization, and law enforcement sources gave ABC News the same figure.

A Hoosier who remembers 2001

Sen. Todd Young was a young staffer for then-Sen. Richard Lugar in 2001, and Lugar's office sat in the same Hart Building where the anthrax letter was opened. Young said this week's threats brought that autumn back.

“Much has changed since that day in October 2001, but the threats facing our nation and those who serve it remain very real,” the Indiana Republican said in a statement to Roll Call. “I’m grateful for the security and mail screening procedures that have been put in place since then, and for the law enforcement officers who work every day to keep Capitol Hill safe.”

Indiana has been down this road. In September 2024, employees at the Indiana Secretary of State's office reported an envelope with a powdery substance, drawing Capitol Police, State Police, hazmat teams and the FBI to the State Government Center before field tests found it apparently harmless, according to the state's own release. None of the reports the Hoosier Enquirer reviewed Thursday night named an Indiana office among this week's recipients. With early voting open since Oct. 6, county clerks handling ballots and mail are exactly the kind of office this campaign of fear is aimed at.

Questions the feds aren't answering yet

Brendan Donahue, deputy chief inspector at the Postal Inspection Service, promised investigators would “bring all of our resources to bear.” He also declined to give an exact count of incidents or say whether they are connected, citing the ongoing investigation, CBS reported. The FBI told Roll Call it is working to identify “the individual or individuals responsible.”

Taxpayers are owed more than that before Nov. 3. This is the second election cycle in a row with a powder-letter wave. The Associated Press reported in 2024 that suspicious packages reached election officials in at least six states, and Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told Votebeat this week's envelope was the second to hit his office, the first having arrived in 2024. Federal officials have not said publicly whether the two waves are linked.

There is also the matter of where these letters landed. After 2001, Washington moved Capitol mail to offsite screening. Back home, Roll Call reported, the House sergeant at arms is telling district offices to rely on “established safe mail handling procedures, including the use of SAA provided mail hoods,” or to forward their mail to D.C. for screening. Murphy's letter went to a state office. So did Blunt Rochester's. Gillibrand's turned up in New York. Twenty-five years and billions in homeland security spending later, the soft spot is still the office down the street where constituents walk in the door.

No envelope should ever decide who feels safe serving the public, whatever party is printed after the name on it. Whoever mailed these is betting fear moves faster than federal investigators. The FBI has 19 days until Election Day to prove that bet wrong.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.