Herman Cain, a Republican candidate for president in 2012, has died after being hospitalized with the coronavirus, according to a statement on his website and social media pages. He was 74.
It’s not clear when or where Cain was infected, but he was hospitalized less than two weeks after attending U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Okla. Cain, not seen wearing a mask in available pictures of the event, did not meet with Trump there. Cain had entered an Atlanta-area hospital for treatment on July 1.
“We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight,” read an article posted on his Twitter account. “He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. We all prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal, but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a battle.”
The former executive of Godfather’s Pizza, Burger King and Pillsbury was an outspoken backer of the president and was named by the campaign as a co-chair of the political group Black Voices for Trump.
Cain briefly rose to the top of polls during the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination despite never having run for political office by highlighting a plan to simplify the tax code with what he called the 9-9-9 plan.
The Georgian faded in the polls, with allegations of sexual harassment and an extramarital affair soon surfacing.
Leave a comment