Former Republican presidential candidate and businessman Herman Cain speaks Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File)
WASHINGTON — Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has died after battling coronavirus for nearly a month, his official website posted Thursday morning and a source close to the White House confirmed to ABC News.
The 74-year-old Cain was admitted into an hospital in early July after showing symptoms.
“You’re never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning,” staffer Dan Calabrese “But we have no choice but to seek and find God’s strength and comfort to deal with it. Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away. He’s entering the presence of the Savior he’s served as an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church in Atlanta for, and preparing for his reward.”
The former pizza company executive was an outspoken backer of President Donald Trump and briefly rose to the top of polls himself during the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination by highlighting a plan to simplify the tax code with what he called the 9-9-9 plan.
Cain, a Black Voices for Trump co-chair, was among the campaign surrogates who attended Trump’s June 20 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Cain posted a photo of himself and others at the rally not wearing masks.
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