Alex Padilla: “Their unwillingness to work with us means our competitors will continue to gain an advantage on us.”

Still, this incident is a stark reminder of the very real dangers facing those who serve the public and who help administer our elections in the face of increasingly hostile political rhetoric — especially from Donald Trump.

The 2026 midterm elections have begun. We urge you to immediately reaffirm that the Department will forgo any actions that would interfere with the lawful administration of the 2026 elections.

My office is in touch with the FBI, U.S. Postal Service and Senate security officials following a suspicious package the U.S. Postal Service intercepted before reaching our office. Thankfully, no threat was posed to my staff or our office.

We’ve seen this coming: Donald Trump’s Department of Justice with no authority is now actively trying to interfere in the 2026 elections and strong-arm California into purging names from our voter rolls and blocking mail ballots based…