Nothing Harmful In Envelope Sent To New Hampshire Democrats

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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Nothing dangerous was detected in a suspicious envelope delivered to the New Hampshire Democratic Party office, police said Tuesday.

The office in Concord was evacuated Monday evening after an employee opened the envelope and noticed a suspicious substance, some of which may have become airborne. No one was injured, and police said Tuesday that testing by the state public health lab found no hazardous substances.

Traffic was diverted around the area Monday night as police, fire crews and a hazmat team responded. The office reopened Tuesday afternoon.

NH State Police bomb technicians investigate suspicious package at NH Democratic Party headquarters (Image credit NH State Police)

Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley thanked investigators and those who have reached out in support.

"While we are relieved the package did not pose a direct threat to our staff members, it served as an important reminder that the toxic and hateful words spewed in our current political environment have ramifications far beyond scoring political points," he said. "Working to support members of the Democratic Party should never come with a fear of attack, and steps must be made to make our political discourse more tolerant and civil."

In August 2017, a vandal spray-painted the word "Nazis" enclosed in a heart on the New Hampshire Republican State Committee headquarters, also in Concord.

A decade before that, a man took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in New Hampshire. Leeland Eisenberg spent more than two years in prison after the five-hour standoff at Clinton's Rochester office during her first presidential run. He is currently in a federal prison in Oklahoma for robbing a bank in Manchester in 2016.