An envelope containing a “suspicious white powder” was received Saturday at the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s campaign headquarters in Arizona.
An employee at Kari Lake’s campaign headquarters in Phoenix opened an envelope containing white power, a campaign spokesman told CNN.
Items recovered during the search will be tested at a lab facility in Arizona, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN. No evidence has been sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, the source said.
Earlier Sunday, Lake campaign spokesman Colton Duncan told CNN via text message that two files were seized by law enforcement and “sent to Quantico professionals for review.”
Lake told reporters Sunday night that her campaign was initially told that the suspicious mail was sent to Quantico for testing, “but apparently there’s a lab closer and that’s where they actually sent the substance, so we’ll find out what it was. ”
Phoenix police told CNN in an email that they responded to a “property call” from 40th Street and Camelback Road.
“When the officers arrived, they learned that there were suspicious items in the mail. Additional resources responded to collect the items and secure the area,” Sgt. Phil Krinsky told CNN. “There are no reports of injuries and the investigation remains active.”
CNN has reached out to the FBI’s Phoenix office for more information.
Earlier on Sunday, Lake’s team said it was taking the threat “incredibly seriously” and thanked authorities for investigating the incident. Duncan said the staff member was under medical observation.
“Meanwhile, know that our resolve has never been higher and we cannot be intimidated. We continue to push full speed ahead to win this election on Tuesday,” Duncan said.
Arizona has been a hotbed of extremist anger and threats against politicians and election officials. These threats have been made against both Democratic and Republican leaders.
“We are in dangerous times. It’s not the first time we’ve been … threatened, I’ve been threatened many times,” Lake told reporters at a campaign event in Queen Creek.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this, I really don’t want to get too far ahead of it, I want investigators to look into it and I really want to find the people who sent it because it’s wrong that this is happening.”
Lake’s Democratic opponent, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, condemned the behavior directed at her opponent and her staff, saying the incident was “incredibly disturbing.”
“Political violence, threats or intimidation have no place in our democracy,” Hobbs said in a statement. “I strongly condemn this threatening behavior directed at Lake and her staff.”
Hobbs’ campaign office was hacked late last month. A suspect was arrested in that case, but police said the man had broken into at least one other office recently. Police have not linked the suspect to any political motive.
Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly on Sunday called the incident “horrific.”
“There is no place in our democracy for things like this,” Kelly told CNN at a campaign event in Tucson. “But there’s no need, someone has to do something like that. It’s just wrong. And we hope that there will be an investigation and they will find who did it and they will arrest them and prosecute them.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
