Wisconsin's GOP Nominee for Governor Was on Final Approach When the Engine Quit. The Plane Went Into Lake Wausau, and Tom Tiffany Swam to Shore.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin, escaped with minor injuries Saturday night after the small plane carrying him home from a campaign dinner lost engine power on approach and ditched in Lake Wausau. Tiffany and the pilot, the only two people on board, climbed out as the aircraft began to sink and swam to shallow water, where rescuers reached them.

The single-engine Beechcraft K35 was on final approach to Wausau Downtown Airport at about 8:50 p.m. when the engine failed, according to the congressman's office and local authorities. Tiffany had spent the evening at the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner, a Republican Party event, and was flying back to central Wisconsin. Radio traffic obtained by NBC News shows emergency dispatchers reporting a plane down with two people in the water and both survivors "alert and conscious" when Wausau firefighters arrived.

"The plane lost power, and he said to me, 'We are going down. Pull your seat belt tight,'" Tiffany said of the pilot at a news conference Sunday. He estimated the aircraft hit the water about ten seconds later. Tiffany was taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where he received stitches above his right eye, and was released. The pilot was treated and released as well. Tiffany's wife, Chris, was at his side Sunday.

"God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful," Tiffany said in a statement, thanking the first responders and the pilot. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate the loss of engine power. The K35 is a 1959-era model of the Bonanza, a four-seat piston aircraft still common among private pilots in the Upper Midwest.

Tiffany, 68, has represented Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District since 2020 and won the Republican nomination for governor with President Trump's endorsement. He faces Democrat David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, on November 3 in a race to succeed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who did not seek a third term. The contest is one of the most closely watched governor's races in the country, in a state Trump carried narrowly in 2024.

Crowley put politics aside in his response. He said he was "grateful to God that Congressman Tiffany and no one else was hurt" and praised the pilot's handling of the emergency.

Lake Wausau is a reservoir on the Wisconsin River that lies alongside the approach to the downtown airport, and the two men were able to reach shallow water on their own before rescuers arrived. Night water landings by light aircraft leave little margin for error, and the FAA's inquiry will focus on why the engine lost power so close to the runway.