Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has reportedly passed away after coming down with coronavirus. A statement on his website reads:

“We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight. 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.” 

You're never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning. But we have no choice but to seek and find God's strength and comfort to deal… #HermanCain https://t.co/BtOgoLVqKz

— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) July 30, 2020

It was revealed that the 74-year-old was battling COVID-19 less than two weeks after he attended Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally. As a co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, Cain attended the rally as a Trump surrogate.

Herman Cain, who is 74, attended Trump's Tulsa rally as a surrogate for the Trump campaign

Here's a photo he posted inside with no mask https://t.co/ZOrvWU4m0X pic.twitter.com/rjcbd4zqga

— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) July 2, 2020

Just the facts – Herman Cain went to the @realDonaldTrump TULSA SUPERSPREADER rally -no mask. The campaign squashed people close so the crowd would look bigger. They cheered for their President for hours. Cain tested positive for COVID nine days later. Now Herman Cain is dead.

— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) July 30, 2020

CNBC writes:

Cain was among the highest-profile public figures in the United States to have died from Covid-19. A 74-year-old survivor of stage 4 colon cancer, Cain had been a business executive and the board chairman of a branch of Kansas City’s Federal Reserve Bank before moving into Republican politics and eventually becoming a presidential candidate.

Last year, President Donald Trump briefly considered picking Cain as his nominee to join the Federal Reserve Board. Cain remained a vocal supporter of Trump’s after his nomination was withdrawn.