Republican Wisconsin governor candidate Tom Tiffany suffered minor injuries after the aircraft he was travelling in made an emergency landing in Lake Wausau, forcing him and the pilot to swim to safety.
Mr Tiffany was returning to his district from a dinner in La Crosse County when the plane lost power while approaching Wausau Downtown Airport, he said. The aircraft was then landed on the lake.
He said the pair left the plane as it began to submerge and swam to a shallow area, where they waited for emergency responders to reach them by boat.
The Wausau Fire Department took both men to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries. Mr Tiffany thanked the pilot, firefighters and other first responders for reaching them quickly.
The aircraft was a four-seat Bonanza, according to local outlet WSAW. The cause of the power loss was not immediately clear, while officials from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin State Patrol attended the scene.
Mr Tiffany represents a conservative district covering much of rural northern and central Wisconsin. He won the Republican nomination for governor last month as the only major candidate on the party’s ballot and has close ties to President Trump.
