New Taipei Mid-Autumn Holiday campaign heats up as Su and Li rival for grassroots votes

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the political atmosphere in New Taipei City is steadily heating up. Potential and declared candidates for the next mayor from various political parties have taken advantage of the long holiday to plunge into the grassroots and actively campaign for votes. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chiao-hui chose to visit Ruifang District in New Taipei City to participate in a local religious procession, not only demonstrating her emphasis on local traditional culture, but also using the opportunity to roll out upgraded policy proposals combining medical resources with local tourism in an attempt to open up the Northeast Corner voting bloc. On the other hand, the Kuomintang's (KMT) Taipei City Deputy Mayor Li Chuan-chiao, who has garnered significant attention, intensively participated in local agricultural product and Mid-Autumn festival celebration events on the eve of the holiday, extending an olive branch to grassroots farmers and pledging to join hands with farmers' associations across all districts in the future to become the most solid backing for farmers. The competitive momentum between the two camps amid the festive atmosphere is palpable.

As Taiwan's most populous special municipality, New Taipei City has historically been a battleground of critical importance, and the upcoming mayoral election is being closely watched. Su Chiao-hui has long cultivated her presence in New Taipei's Shulin and Yingge districts in the legislature, and the administrative resources from her father Su Tseng-chang's tenure as county magistrate have also given her deep local roots. Recently, she has actively crossed district lines to campaign everywhere, displaying strong ambition. This time, she went deep into Ruifang District in the Northeast Corner to participate in the local faith center's procession. In addition to following local customs to connect with the townspeople, she put forward concrete policy meat addressing the long-standing pain points faced by the Ruifang area, such as insufficient local medical resources and the transformation of the tourism industry. She emphasized that Ruifang possesses rich natural landscapes and human history, but if tourism benefits are to be continuously amplified, it must be backed by complete infrastructure and a convenient medical care system to truly attract tourists to linger and allow local residents to live with peace of mind.

Compared to Su Chiao-hui's discourse, which leans toward urban transformation and tourism upgrading, Li Chuan-chiao—who possesses a rich engineering background and administrative experience—demonstrated a solid style of grassroots cultivation. In various events leading up the Mid-Autumn Festival, Li focused on New Taipei City's vast agriculture and fishery industries and the livelihoods of grassroots farmers. He is well aware that although New Taipei City is a highly urbanized city, surrounding areas such as Sanzhi, Tamsui, Jinshan, Wanli, Ruifang, and Shuangxi still retain agricultural and fishery economies of considerable scale. During his interactions with farmers, Li made a clear commitment that if given the opportunity to lead the city government team in the future, he will fully support the development of local farmers' associations. From the production and marketing regulation of agricultural products and the establishment of cold-chain logistics to the promotion of brand marketing, he will stand on the same front with farmers, becoming their strongest backing in pioneering careers and stabilizing livelihoods. This remark precisely captured the substantive interests that grassroots farmers care about most.

From these grassroots canvassing itineraries on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it can be seen that the pan-blue and pan-green camps have adopted campaign strategies that closely match their respective party advantages and candidate traits when vying for the top post in New Taipei City. The DPP's Su Chiao-hui attempts to attract younger demographics and urban voters with higher demands for quality of life through forward-looking tourism and medical policies, while not forgetting to consolidate grassroots organizations such as traditional temples. Meanwhile, the KMT's Li Chuan-chiao continues his consistently steady and pragmatic engineer image, focusing on down-to-earth livelihood and economic issues such as caring for farmers and cooperating with farmers' associations, attempting to win over the vast outer-ring district and rural votes of New Taipei City. This campaign posture of "air war and ground war advancing side by side" and "macro policies and micro care complementing each other" foretells that the future New Taipei mayoral race will be an all-around, dead-angle-free showdown of strength.

As the election progresses, the voter structure of New Taipei City presents a diverse and complex landscape. How to balance the modernization development of urban areas with resource allocation in remote townships will be an issue that all candidates must seriously confront. The tourism and medical upgrades proposed by Su Chiao-hui in Ruifang pointed out the urgent need for the transformation of the Northeast Corner tourism corridor, while Li Chuan-chiao's promises to farmers touched upon the consolidation of the local economic lifeline. These policies and statements are not merely seasonal remarks for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but rather preliminary test waters for each camp's future governance blueprints. While enjoying the festive reunion atmosphere, voters are also using magnifying glasses to examine the stature and sincerity of these potential candidates. This outpost battle for the New Taipei mayoral election has already fully unfolded amid a strong sense of human touch and fierce policy clashes.