Iowa gov. candidate performs CPR on woman choking at fundraiser

A Democratic Iowa gubernatorial candidate performed CPR on a woman during a fundraiser Saturday, after she apparently choked on a piece of food. 

The Des Moines Register reported that Andy McGuire, a physician and health care management executive, rushed through the crowd of the Polk County Steak Fry to help a woman after she heard calls for a doctor.

The woman was struggling to breathe when McGuire arrived on the scene. The former Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman then performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. 

{mosads}

“She was very tachycardic. She was hanging in there, but real thready,” McGuire told the Register. “I was mostly just keeping her breathing.”

“You’ve just got to keep her exchanging air until they can get her oxygen,” she said.

The woman was taken away on a stretcher. Not long after, Sean Bagniewski, the chairman of the Polk County Democrats, said from the stage of the event that McGuire may have saved the woman’s life, the Register reported.