Taiwan's 2026 local election campaign is heating up, with DPP figures crossing city lines to shore up each other's races — a sign the party is pushing hard for unity ahead of the vote.

• Taipei city council candidate Kao Chia-yu campaigned in Keelung for the DPP's mayoral candidate Tung Tzu-wei, her second trip there.
• Kao played up her Keelung roots, walking a market full of relatives and childhood neighbors, and shared a light story about mixing up beans at a corner shop as a kid.
• Registration for the November local elections closed, with Taipei's mayoral race set between incumbent KMT mayor Chiang Wan-an and DPP legislator Puma Shen, plus four others, and 98 council candidates.
• The KMT has been needling Kao for appearing to keep her distance from Shen, which she denies while insisting the DPP is united.
• A KMT-TPP alliance collapsed in Zhubei, and Kao predicts the fallout could damage the blue camp's chances in several other counties.

Outlook: Expect more cross-city joint appearances and sharper attacks on party unity as the campaign enters its final stretch.