Opposition from Fourth Republican Senator Effectively Kills Herman Cain’s Chances for Fed Seat

Just a day after President Donald Trump declared his ongoing support for his latest pick for the Federal Reserve board, Herman Cain, a fourth Republican senator said he would vote no on the nomination.

“If I had to vote today, I would vote no,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said Thursday.

With Cramer’s opposition, there are now four candidates who have said they would vote against Cain. With no possibility of support from any Senate Democrat, that effectively kills Cain’s chances of confirmation.

“Herman is a great guy, and I hope he does well,” Trump said Wednesday.

Republican Sens. Cory Gardner (CO), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Mitt Romney (UT) had previously said they would vote against Cain.

Cain was a successful businessman prior to his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. After a successful career as a Burger King executive, Cain became the chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, a company he is credited with having revived when it was on the brink of failure.

Cain served as a director on the board of the Kansas City Federal Reserve from 1992 to 1996. He eventually rose to become chairman of the board. He had been a board member of the Omaha branch of the Kansas City Fed since 1989.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said on Wednesday that he supported the president’s plan to nominate Cain to the Fed board. On Thursday morning, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the president was still backing Cain.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared to criticize the administration’s decision to announce Cain’s pending nomination before completing a background check.

“The White House ought to take into consideration obviously two things before making a nomination,” McConnell said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “One is the background check that they do on all nominees before they send them up, and second is the possibility of being confirmed.”

Cain was one of two candidates that the president has said he plans to nominate to the two vacant seats on the Fed board. The other is Stephen Moore, a conservative pundit and former Wall Street Journal editorialist.