GOP governor candidate escapes submerging plane after Lake landing

Republican Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany said he and a pilot escaped with minor injuries after their small plane lost power and made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau on Saturday night.

Tiffany said he was returning from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner when the aircraft lost power as it approached Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot then landed the plane on the water, according to a statement Tiffany posted on X.

“After landing, we called 911,” Tiffany said. “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.”

A report attributed to the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office said a private aircraft went into Lake Wausau at about 9 p.m. Saturday. Local reports said two people sustained minor injuries and were taken to a hospital.

Tiffany said the Wausau Fire Department and other first responders removed the pair from the water and took them to Aspirus Wausau Hospital.

“Thankfully, both the pilot and I sustained only minor injuries,” he said.

Tiffany also thanked the pilot and emergency crews, adding: “God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side. An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”

Tom Tiffany is a Republican congressman representing Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and a candidate for governor in 2026. He entered Congress after winning a special election in 2020, following previous service in the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate.

Tiffany grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm and later operated a Northwoods excursion-boat business with his wife, Chris. He currently serves on the House Judiciary and Natural Resources committees.

Small aircraft have long been used by American candidates and officeholders traveling between events, particularly in geographically large or rural states. Aviation accidents have also shaped political history: an aircraft carrying Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone crashed near Eveleth, Minnesota, in October 2002 while approaching a municipal airport.

In October 2000, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan was aboard a twin-engine Cessna traveling to a campaign event when it crashed, and former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was also killed in a 2010 floatplane crash after surviving an earlier aviation accident decades before.

This is a developing news story and will be updated.