A Minnesota Student Association vice presidential candidate dropped out of the race after her running mate’s past social media posts resurfaced and stirred controversy.

Janet Nguyen released a statement late Sunday evening saying she would pull out of the All Campus Elections due to comments made by running mate Osirus Washington. Student government elections started Monday.

Washington posted, “Do you get bad karma for having an abortion?” on his Facebook account on Jan. 28. On Sunday evening, many MSA members and others responded to the post with concern and asked him to clarify the meaning behind the post.

In a response to one of these comments, Washington said he had “no ill intent” with the post and claimed to be looking for different viewpoints on abortion.

Nguyen’s statement, which addressed Washington’s post and subsequent comments, declared her withdrawal from the race as well as her and others’ “dissociation” from Washington’s comments.

“We want to make the stance known that we condemn ignorance over such a sensitive issue. As women ourselves, we want every woman to feel safe on campus in the conversation surrounding bodily choices. We, individually and collectively, advocate for female empowerment and family planning services like Planned Parenthood. We support healthy dialogue around this topic and do not stand with the comment made by Osirus,” the statement read.

The election for MSA president and vice president are held this week, through March 15 at 8 p.m.

This is a breaking news report. More information will be added as it becomes available.