The suspicious-mail campaign targeting America's elected officials widened again on Tuesday, as three more members of Congress — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Robert Garcia of California and Nanette Barragán of California — reported letters aimed at their offices, two weeks before the midterm elections. Nobody was harmed in any of the three incidents, and federal investigators say the interception system caught most of the mail before it ever reached a desk.
Ocasio-Cortez said a suspicious letter arrived at her district office in Hunts Point, in the Bronx, and that the New York City Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are investigating. In a statement released Tuesday evening, she said: "This string of suspicious mailings started two weeks before a consequential midterm election and is seemingly intended to intimidate public servants and sow further division." Garcia, who represents Long Beach, said a similar letter headed for his office was stopped on Tuesday: "The letter was intercepted, necessary safety precautions were taken, and no one in our office was harmed. We're thankful to the Long Beach Police and Fire Departments, and the Sheriff's Department for their swift response and continued support in keeping our community safe."
Barragán, whose district office is also in Long Beach, said law enforcement notified her office Tuesday that a letter containing a suspicious substance was intercepted before delivery. "The safety of my staff is a priority, and I am thankful that law enforcement and postal inspectors acted quickly," she said. "This is part of a broader pattern of attacks across California and the country to strike fear into Congress Members and Senators. My team and I will continue our work to serve and assist the people of California's 44th Congressional District."
"We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters." — FBI spokesperson
Tuesday's reports sit on top of a wave that has been building for more than a week. More than three dozen members of Congress have now had their offices targeted with envelopes containing white powder, and law enforcement sources say more than 100 letters believed to contain powder are circulating in the U.S. mail system. The targets span both parties and both chambers: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Alex Padilla had letters intercepted, Sen. Chris Murphy was alerted by the FBI, and Republican Sens. Mike Rounds, Pete Ricketts and Ted Cruz were also targeted — Rounds' Sioux Falls office was evacuated, and Ricketts said testing confirmed the substance sent to his office was not harmful. In the House, the offices of Hakeem Jeffries, Ritchie Torres and Tom Suozzi were among at least ten exposed; a staffer in Rep. Jimmy Panetta's Santa Cruz office opened an envelope before clearing the room and calling 911, and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam's Leesburg office was evacuated on Monday before being cleared, with preliminary tests showing the powder was not hazardous. Election offices in at least 15 states have also been targeted.
Investigators say the letters share a fingerprint: they were processed through a mail facility in north Texas and carry a "Thinking of You" postmark, and congressional staff have been warned to watch for plain white envelopes with those markings. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are leading the investigation alongside the Capitol Police, and most envelopes have been intercepted at screening facilities before delivery. So far, no letter opened at a congressional office has been confirmed hazardous, no injuries have been reported, and no suspect has been named. The scare echoes the fall of 2024, when election officials in 17 states received similar mailings in the run-up to the presidential election.
The timing is the point, lawmakers in both parties say — a coordinated attempt to frighten the people who run elections and represent voters, arriving in the final stretch of a midterm campaign. Mailing a hoax hazard is a federal crime even when the powder turns out to be harmless, and the investigation now stretches from postal inspectors in Texas to police departments in the Bronx and Long Beach. As Ocasio-Cortez put it: "Political violence has no place in our country."