Vancouver mayoral race consolidates as COPE candidate Stephanie Allen withdraws

Stephanie Allen, the Coalition of Progressive Electors' mayoral candidate, announced Wednesday she is ending her campaign to urge progressive voters to consolidate behind one candidate in Vancouver's October civic election — now just over a month away.

Allen's withdrawal follows an earlier agreement among COPE, OneCity, and the Vancouver Green Party to reduce the number of progressive mayoral candidates competing against Mayor Ken Sim's ABC party. The three parties had been working toward selecting a single unity candidate to maximize their chances against Sim.

"We can't put our egos ahead of doing the right thing for Vancouver," Allen said in her statement. She urged other progressive candidates who are "behind in the race for mayor" to "do the right thing, show integrity, and narrow the mayoral field to the progressive candidate best positioned to evict Ken Sim."

Allen, a co-founder of the Hogan's Alley Society and former BC Housing executive, called her candidacy "the privilege of a lifetime" and said she remains committed to the movement for the people of this city. She pledged that COPE's candidates across all boards would work with a progressive mayor instead of Sim.

COPE co-chair Sam Smart thanked Allen for her contributions and echoed the unity plea: "This decision is about more than the success of our party. It's about serving the people of Vancouver. We believe real leadership means listening to the people, and the people are speaking." He urged all parties to come to an agreement as soon as possible.

As HighOnCity reported on August 27, progressive parties faced a September 11 deadline to register mayoral candidates. The source material does not confirm which progressive candidate the three parties will ultimately unite behind, or the timeline for that decision.