Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te travelled to Taitung to campaign for Chen Ying, the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for county magistrate, training his criticism on a scandal involving the family of the Kuomintang rival and raising the temperature of the race.

• After offering incense at Taitung's Tianhou Temple, Lai Ching-te publicly canvassed votes for Chen Ying and for Weng Sheng-hui, the candidate for mayor of Taitung City.
• He said a county magistrate must be honest and spend every cent on local residents, and "cannot build a road at their own front door" — a line that drew repeated laughter from the crowd.
• The remark pointed directly at the farm road construction scandal surrounding the "Dongying Resort" owned by the family of Kuomintang candidate Wu Hsiu-hua.
• Wu Hsiu-hua's campaign headquarters responded that Taitung had just been hit by torrential rain, and that flooding, agricultural losses and damage to roads and bridges were the real priorities — the central government should put up money rather than merely show up to campaign.
• Lai Ching-te also expressed hope that Chen Ying would serve as "Taitung's daughter", using her connections as a legislator to secure central government resources for the county.

Outlook: The Taitung magistrate race is likely to keep revolving around corruption allegations and post-disaster reconstruction funding in the near term.