Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Tiffany spent Saturday night swimming out of a sinking plane in Lake Wausau, which is genuinely one of the more dramatic things that has happened to a gubernatorial candidate in recent memory. Tiffany and his pilot both walked away with minor injuries after their four-seat Bonanza lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport and went down in the water. They are fine. The plane is not.
What Actually Happened Out There
According to Fox News, Tiffany was returning from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner — a campaign stop — when the Bonanza he was riding in lost power as it approached Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot made the call to ditch the aircraft in Lake Wausau, which, all things considered, was the right call.
Tiffany posted about the ordeal on X, explaining that he and the pilot called 911 immediately after hitting the water. The problem was that the plane didn't wait around for the rescue boats. It started filling with water and sinking before responders could reach them.
"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 wrote. That is a sentence very few politicians ever have occasion to type.
The Rescue, the Hospital, the Thank-Yous
The Wausau Fire Department pulled both men from the lake and transported them to Aspirus Wausau Hospital. Fox News reports that both Tiffany and the pilot sustained only minor injuries, which, given that their plane is currently sitting at the bottom of a lake, counts as an extraordinary outcome.
Tiffany's wife, Chris, was at the hospital with him afterward. "God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side," he wrote. You can disagree with the man's politics all you want, but that is a genuinely rattling thing to go through.
Tiffany was effusive in thanking the pilot and first responders. "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," he said. The cause of the power loss remains under investigation, according to Fox News.
The Race He Was Flying Back From Campaigning For
Tiffany is currently the Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor, running as a Trump-backed conservative in what is shaping up to be a nasty race. His likely Democratic opponent is Francesca Hong, whom Tiffany and his allies have taken to calling a socialist, because it is 2026 and apparently that framing never gets old.
Fox News reports that former Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin has already come in to stump for Tiffany, with both men taking shots at Hong in a joint interview. The Wisconsin governor's race was already going to be watched closely as a bellwether for the broader political environment. It just got a lot more dramatic as a storyline.
Tiffany currently represents Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District. He is, as of Saturday night, also a man who has swum out of a sinking airplane in the dark, which is something. His campaign did not immediately comment on whether Saturday's events would affect his schedule.
The Social Media Response Was Exactly What You'd Expect
Within hours of Tiffany's post, the prayers and relief messages were flowing in from across the political internet, which is one of the few things left that still functions across party lines. "My god! What an ordeal. Very grateful everyone is safe," one person wrote. Others sent prayers, expressed gratitude, the whole liturgy.
Giving credit where it is due: a bipartisan outpouring of basic human decency when a politician almost dies is not nothing. We take it where we can get it these days.
The Dingo Take
Tom Tiffany swam out of a sinking plane on Saturday night. That's the whole story, and it is genuinely harrowing regardless of what you think of his politics. The man was heading home from a campaign dinner and ended up treading water in a Wisconsin lake in the dark waiting for a fire boat. His pilot kept the aircraft intact enough on impact that both men could get out. That is skill under pressure, and it probably saved Tiffany's life.
The politics can wait. The race will still be there. Hong vs. Tiffany, socialism accusations, Youngkin photo ops, all of it will grind on through November just fine. Right now the relevant facts are that a man went into a lake and came out of it, and the first responders in Wausau did their jobs well. That's worth acknowledging before we get back to the bloodsport.
The cause of the power loss is still under investigation. Someone at the FAA is going to have a very long week. And somewhere at the bottom of Lake Wausau there is a Bonanza that will eventually need to be pulled out, which is going to make for a hell of a news photo when it happens.
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