WAUSAU, Wis. — U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor, said he and a pilot sustained only minor injuries after their small plane lost power and made an emergency water landing on Lake Wausau on Saturday night, Sept. 12, 2026, Fox News, CBS News, and CNN reported.

Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, said in an X post quoted by those outlets that the four-seat Bonanza was returning from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner in Onalaska when it lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport. CNN reported the Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a Beechcraft K35.

“The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau,” Tiffany wrote on X, according to Fox News.

Tiffany said he and the pilot called 911 after hitting the water, but the aircraft began filling and sinking before rescuers 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,” he wrote, in wording Fox News and CBS News both carried.

First responders pulled them from the lake and took them to Aspirus Wausau Hospital. “Thankfully, both the pilot and I sustained only minor injuries,” Tiffany wrote, CBS News reported. Fox News and CNN quoted him thanking 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. They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care.”

Tiffany said his wife, Chris, was with him at the hospital. “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,” he wrote, according to Fox News, CBS News, and CNN.

CBS affiliate WSAW-TV initially reported a private plane going down in Lake Wausau around 9 p.m. local time, citing the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. CNN said dispatch audio it obtained and verified captured an official confirming: “Boat heads back to landing with two victims” and “Both are alert and conscious.” The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and State Patrol also responded, CNN reported via WSAW; the investigation was handed to the FAA. The cause of the power loss remains under investigation.

Democratic gubernatorial rival David Crowley said he was “grateful to God that Congressman Tiffany and no one else was hurt in this horrifying incident, which could have been a tragedy if not for the heroism of the pilot,” CBS News reported.

Dated Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026: Tiffany and the pilot swam clear of a sinking Bonanza on Lake Wausau after Saturday night’s emergency landing — minor injuries only, power-loss cause still under FAA investigation.

Sources