Politics
Seattle office evacuation follows latest in wave of election-related mail scares
A suspicious package sent to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Seattle office led to a brief evacuation Friday as authorities investigate similar mailings to election and government offices. No injuries were reported, and the building was cleared in under two hours.
A suspicious package delivered to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Seattle office prompted an evacuation Friday afternoon, the latest in a series of concerning mail incidents involving election and government offices nationwide.
A mailroom employee contacted police after receiving the package at the office in Seattle’s Denny Triangle neighborhood. The second floor of the building was evacuated while hazardous-materials crews investigated. Seattle Fire Department officials declared the building safe less than two hours after the response began, and no injuries were reported.
“ We continued to monitor the entire building to make sure that it was safe for folks,” fire department spokesperson David Cuerpo said. First responders were transferring the package to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for investigation, he said.
Jayapal said she and her staff were safe and following established procedures. She described the incident as part of what she called a “seemingly deliberate and widespread attack on our democracy and elections.” Authorities had not publicly identified the package’s contents or its sender Friday.
The incident followed a separate report Thursday at Seattle’s Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, which Cuerpo said “turned out to be nothing.” Also Thursday, law enforcement intercepted a letter containing white powder addressed to the Washington secretary of state’s elections division.
The FBI and Postal Inspection Service are investigating suspicious packages and letters sent to congressional and election offices in several parts of the country. The incidents come about three weeks before Election Day and echo a 2023 episode in which election offices in six states received mailings containing white powder.