Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany and a pilot were forced out of a sinking airplane and into Lake Wausau late Saturday after the aircraft lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport, turning a trip home from a political dinner into a harrowing emergency.
Tiffany said the pilot managed an emergency water landing. But the danger did not end when the plane hit the water.
The congressman said he and the pilot called 911 after landing, then had to get out of the aircraft as it began to submerge. They swam through the lake to shallow water and waited there until emergency crews reached them by boat.
“After landing, we called 911,” Tiffany wrote in a Facebook post shortly before midnight. “As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat.”
Tiffany said he and the pilot suffered only minor injuries and were taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital. WBAY-TV also reported the emergency landing early Sunday.
The close call came as Tiffany was returning from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner.
“While returning home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner tonight, the plane I was traveling in lost power as we approached the Wausau Downtown Airport,” Tiffany wrote. “The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau.”
WBAY reported the plane Tiffany was traveling in was a four-seat Bonanza.
Tiffany praised the pilot and the first responders who came to their aid, particularly the Wausau Fire Department.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and all of the first responders who came to our aid so quickly,” Tiffany wrote. “They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care. Thankfully, both the pilot and I sustained only minor injuries.”
He closed the post on a personal note.
“God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side,” Tiffany wrote. “An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”
The incident comes at a consequential point in Wisconsin politics. Tiffany is the Republican nominee for governor and will face Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the Nov. 3 general election. The race will determine Wisconsin’s first new governor in eight years after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided not to seek a third term.
Tiffany dominated the Republican primary in August, receiving about 95% of the vote against Andy Manske. Crowley emerged from a far closer Democratic contest. He briefly suspended his campaign and eventual, narrowly defeated state Rep. Francesca Hong.
The November contest is for an open governorship in one of the nation’s most closely divided political battlegrounds. Recent Wisconsin statewide races have repeatedly been decided by narrow margins.
Tiffany, 68, has represented Wisconsin’s sprawling 7th Congressional District since winning a 2020 special election to succeed former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy. Before going to Congress, Tiffany served in the Wisconsin Assembly and later the state Senate, where he sat on the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.
He grew up on a dairy farm near Elmwood and earned a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Tiffany and his wife, Chris, raised three daughters in northern Wisconsin. Before his congressional career, he owned and operated an excursion boat business and spent decades as a dam tender on the Willow Flowage.
For Tiffany, Saturday’s emergency ended at a hospital rather than in tragedy. According to his account, the aircraft lost power, the pilot put it down on Lake Wausau, the plane began sinking, and both men were able to get out and swim away before rescuers arrived.
Both survived with what Tiffany described as minor injuries.
Updated at 9/13/26 at 12:53 am to include plane information as reported by WBAY
