Former US Senator Bob Dole salutes before the flag-draped coffin of former US President George H. W. Bush at the US Capitol rotunda December 4, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Alex Edleman | AFP | Getty Images
Bob Dole, a former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate, announced Thursday that he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
“Recently, I was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. My first treatment will begin on Monday. While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole said in a statement.
Dole, 97, served as a U.S. senator from Kansas for nearly 30 years.
The Kansan senator was also Gerald Ford’s vice presidential nominee in his 1976 campaign, and shortly after tested the waters in the Republican presidential primaries in 1980.
In 1996, Dole secured the GOP nomination for the presidency but fell short to Bill Clinton.
Dole supported Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, telling PBS NewsHour that Trump “is a strong leader and he is someone who can work with Congress. There are a lot of similarities between my days in the Senate and what Donald is proposing.”
More recently, Dole said he felt the Commission on Presidential Debates unfairly treated Trump during the 2020 presidential debates.
