Taiwan's local elections are 100 days away, and small parties like the Taiwan Statebuilding Party are fighting to stay relevant as the anti-China political mood fades.

• Wu Hsin-tai, a doctor running for Taipei city council in the Neihu-Nangang district, is pitching herself as the district's most values-driven choice.
• She lost by 1,000 votes four years ago and has since run a high-profile legislative race.
• The bigger problem: the energy behind Taiwanese identity and resistance to China has been shrinking since the 2019 Hong Kong protests and the 2020 presidential landslide.
• Her argument is that small parties matter most now because they can put fairness ahead of political payoff.
• Without big-party money, her team has self-funded hundreds of local legal clinics, health talks, and family events over four years.

Outlook: The November local elections will test whether small pro-independence parties can still win seats as voter enthusiasm cools.