As Taiwan's year-end nine-in-one local elections heat up, former President Tsai Ing-wen has personally crossed regional lines to campaign for DPP candidates, a sign that the party is stepping up its election preparations.

• Tsai Ing-wen appeared in Taichung on the 8th to campaign for mayoral candidate Ho Hsin-chun, taking on the role of honorary chair of her campaign headquarters.
• She joked that one reason she accepted was that DPP caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang had declared, "If you don't come, I'm quitting," to which she shot back, "Don't come see me if you don't win."
• Tsai Ing-wen has already taken up campaign headquarters chair positions in New Taipei, Taitung and Keelung, a scale of campaigning spanning north and south that is rare in Taiwanese politics.
• More than 20,000 people packed the launch rally for Su Chiao-hui's campaign headquarters in New Taipei, where Lai Ching-te and Tsai Ing-wen appeared together for the first time since the 2025 National Day celebrations.
• Observers read the election as a "battle to defend the Tsai Ing-wen line," with the outcome set to shape the balance of power between her and Lai Ching-te.

Outlook: With less than 90 days until the vote, Tsai Ing-wen is expected to keep campaigning across counties and cities, and the contest between the Blue and Green camps in the two major battlegrounds of New Taipei and Taichung will grow more intense.