Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos dies in plane crash

A candidate in Brazil's upcoming presidential election in October has died in a plane crash.

Reuters reports the crash occurred as the plane carrying the candidate, Eduardo Campos, was trying to land in the city of Santos, Sao Paulo state amid poor weather conditions. The crash killed all seven people on board the aircraft, a Cessna 560 XL, according to The Associated Press.

The 49-year-old Campos was polling at about 10 percent and widely viewed as a pro-business candidate. He was the leader of the Brazilian Socialist Party and an economist by trade.

Campos was one of the Brazilian politics youngest up and coming stars. He made a name for himself as the governor of Pernambuco state, an impoverished state in the northeast of Brazil. As governor he improved social services and lured foreign investors to the region creating thousands of jobs and fueling economic growth.

Campos stepped down from the position of governor so that he could focus on his campaign for president, according to The Economist. Campos comes from a Brazilian political dynasty. His father, Miguel Arraes, was the governor of Pernambuco state both before and after the 1985 collapse of Brazil's military dictatorship.

The current President and election frontrunner Dilma Rousseff has said that she will suspend her campaign to allow for a three-day period of mourning. Rousseff is currently polling at around 36 percent.#

Campos was a political ally of the previous Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The AP reports that in a statement, Silva mourned the loss of Campos by describing Campos as, "a public figure of rare and extraordinary quality."

Silva continued, "Affection, respect and mutual admiration were always present in our dealings with one another."

A spokesperson for the Obama Administration also extended condolences by saying, "The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with Brazil on this tragic occasion."