With two months to go before Taiwan's 2026 local elections, the green camp's fierce attacks on Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an appear aimed not at winning Taipei but at suppressing his political momentum — bad news for Puma Shen.

• Former legislator Kuo Cheng-liang judges that the DPP has given up on the Taipei mayoral race, and that its attacks on Chiang Wan-an are meant only to weaken his spillover effect in 2026 and 2028.
• Chiang Wan-an is mired in a conflict-of-interest controversy, and his son's selection for a Taipei city-funded exchange student programme has been labelled "privilege," with the blue camp worried internally about a repeat of Sean Lien's losing campaign.
• New Taipei City has become the real main battleground, with the latest polls showing Lee Ssu-chuan leading Su Chiao-hui by about 7 percentage points.
• Cracks have appeared in blue-white cooperation, with negotiations over the Zhubei mayoral race breaking down and the resulting discontent spilling over into Yilan.
• Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai's next move after leaving office has also become a focus, with observers speculating that Lai Ching-te will not bring him into the cabinet, so as not to threaten his own 2028 re-election bid.

Outlook: The overall picture in Taipei looks settled, and the real variables in the campaign lie in New Taipei and in whether the blue and white camps can repair their relationship.