ASSU executive candidate withdraws from election, disbanding campaign

Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) vice presidential candidate Gordon Allen ’26 withdrew from the race for ASSU Executive Office last Wednesday after he “decided that due to a pattern of dynamic differences” with his running mate, Ivy Chen ’26 M.A. ’27. His withdrawal disqualified the slate he shared with Chen from the election.

Allen and Chen’s campaign, “BUILD,” focused on “student life, social life and graduate students” and emphasized their experience serving as Undergraduate Senate (UGS) co-chairs this year. The slate gathered 422 signatures, surpassing the 300 signatures needed to run for ASSU Executive Office and the 384 signatures and 343 signatures the other two slates collected.

An email from ASSU Elections Commissioner Christian Figueroa ’27 to the student body on Friday recognized that “there have been some questions regarding the contents of the ballot” given BUILD’s absence but confirmed “that the contents of the ballot, including its reflected candidates, are accurate.”

“Gordon officially withdrew his candidacy last Wednesday, and ultimately, their slate did not qualify for the ballot,” the elections commission wrote in an email to The Daily.

Allen told The Daily that he originally planned to withdraw from the election after “an altercation” three weeks prior but decided to continue the campaign after he felt the issue was adequately resolved. He shared that after another “altercation arose” on Tuesday, he decided to resign his candidacy.

“I felt like I had to remove myself from an environment that was not productive to my own wellbeing, and I had to remove myself from an environment where I felt like the working dynamic was not going to be productive for the overall student body,” Allen said. “It just comes to the point where you have to realize that if you truly want an executive office that sends a united and cohesive message, why continue to repeat a pattern that has been existing for so long?”

UGS Appropriations Chair David Sengthay ’26 told The Daily that “as one of the folks” Allen “consulted for this decision,” he could attest that “it was not done in a rash manner.” Sengthay attributed the decision to Allen’s desire to make “time for the things that matter the most to him his senior year.”

Sengthay said that Allen found working with administrators to be a lengthy process, wished he had achieved more in the past two years and felt that running for executive office with Chen put a “strain” on their relationship.

“He didn’t want to ruin a friendship over some sort of election,” Sengthay said. “Dropping out has a negative connotation to it. I think how we should frame this is Gordon took a step back from student government from this election because he wanted to prioritize his own time, his own self.”

Allen shared that he considered continuing the campaign and dropping out after the election if the slate won but felt it would be “selfish” and “disingenuous to voters.”

“I would feel like I’d be robbing voters of their agency if I were to go into office knowing that I was going to resign anyways,” Allen said.

Chen told The Daily she “respected” Allen’s decision but that she would not comment on it “just for his own privacy.”

“It’s really hard to hear that coming from someone who ran an election with you, but at the end of the day, I’m going to respect his decision, because I want what’s best for him and best for us,” Chen said. “We will remain really good friends. We still text a lot.”

Chen added that the elections commission allowed her until 7 p.m. on Thursday to find a new vice president for her ticket. “Nothing materialized in time, which is why my ticket was left out of the ballot,” she said. “It sucks, but at the end of day, I am glad that I was given the opportunity to serve the student body for the past two years.”

ASSU Executive candidates Ava Brown ’26 and Will Berriman ’26 declined to comment on Allen’s withdrawal. ASSU Executive slate Artem Arzyn ’25 M.S. ’25 and Raina Talwar Bhatia ’25 M.S. ’26 did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

Allen told The Daily that he doesn’t “want this to be dramatized.”

“I want it to be recognized that I, too, wanted to win. I wanted to continue to do the work I genuinely do love,” Allen said. “I want people to recognize that Ivy and I, we still try to show up for our communities, right? I think at the end, Ivy still has… Ivy has heart, which I think a lot of people do.”

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