Taiwan's DPP is closing ranks ahead of the 2026 local elections, with its candidates for the north's biggest cities campaigning together — a show of unity that is good news for the party's organizing effort.

• Taoyuan mayoral candidate Huang Shih-chieh joined the launch of lawyer support groups for Taipei candidate Puma Shen and New Taipei candidate Su Chiao-hui.
• Yilan county candidate Lin Kuo-chang also attended, tying the northern campaigns into one bloc.
• Huang, a former lawyer and justice ministry official, argued legal training helps candidates know where administrative limits lie and push bureaucracy to move faster.
• He called for Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Yilan and Keelung to be run as one region on transport, industry, youth housing and AI, not city by city.

Outlook: Huang plans his own lawyer support group launch and will invite the same candidates, signaling more joint northern campaigning as the 2026 vote nears.