A Congressman's Plane Lost Power Over a Wisconsin Lake. He Swam to Shore in the Dark.

The small plane was on its way back from a Lincoln Day dinner in La Crosse County when it lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport. By the time it came down, there was no runway under it — just Lake Wausau, dark and open, in the middle of a Saturday night.

U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany was inside the four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza with the pilot. As the aircraft began taking on water, the two men got out and swam to a shallow area, where they waited for help to reach them.

Dispatch audio captured the scramble to find them: "We have two victims in the water. We're just pulling them out now," one responder radioed, followed by, "Both are alert." A Wausau Fire Department airboat reached the two men and pulled them out around 9:05 p.m. Both were taken to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries — Tiffany received stitches above his right eye.

"After landing, we called 911," Tiffany said afterward. "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." Describing the moment from his hospital bed, he grew emotional: "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 isn't just a sitting congressman — he's in the middle of a run for Wisconsin governor, endorsed by President Trump, facing Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in a race that's drawn national attention. He represents Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, where he's served since 2020, and chairs the House Natural Resources Committee's Federal Lands Subcommittee.

None of that mattered in the water. What mattered was getting out of a sinking plane in the dark and staying afloat until a boat found them. What caused the aircraft to lose power in the first place is still under investigation, with federal aviation authorities now looking into exactly what went wrong on approach to Wausau.

Both Tiffany and the pilot are expected to make a full recovery. The investigation into the mechanical failure is ongoing, and Tiffany's campaign has not indicated any change to his schedule as a result of the crash — a detail that, for a man who just swam out of a submerging aircraft, says something on its own.