Su Qiaohui pushes practical fundraising items, Li Sichuan canvasses Sanlu for votes

As the mayoral race in New Taipei City continues to heat up, the deployments and activities of various political camps are becoming increasingly intensive. Su Chiao-hui, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for New Taipei City Mayor, officially unveiled a series of new campaign fundraising merchandise by her campaign team today, including highly practical items such as apparel, hats, and towels. The team announced that these items will be officially and fully launched on the 5th, aiming to unite supporters' loyalty and replenish the campaign's financial war chest. Meanwhile, Taipei City Deputy Mayor Li Ssu-chuan, viewed as a strong contender within the Kuomintang (KMT), has recently been actively engaging in grassroots outreach. In the evening, he once again ventured deep into Sanchong and Luzhou, traditionally regarded as DPP strongholds, to conduct market-stumping campaigns and host local symposiums. He was warmly welcomed by many residents wherever he went, demonstrating a strong ambition for grassroots connection.

Looking back at the political landscape of New Taipei City, the Sanchong and Luzhou districts have long been traditional, deep-rooted strongholds cultivated by the DPP over the years, with a voter demographic leaning more toward the pan-green camp than the pan-blue camp. However, as New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi's term approaches its end, both the blue and green camps have shown a determined resolve to win Taiwan's most populous special municipality. Li's decision to venture deep into the markets of the Sanchong-Luzhou area for stumping and to hold a symposium in the evening not only carries high political symbolic significance, but also reflects the KMT's strategic layout to breach traditional defense lines and actively capture middle-of-the-road voters and grassroots support. Li possesses a solid engineering background and administrative experience at the local level. Through face-to-face contact with grassroots citizens, he attempts to narrow the distance with voters through his pragmatic image, and the enthusiastic response from the crowd on-site demonstrated his considerable appeal at the grassroots level.

In contrast to the KMT candidate's traditional "ground war" tactics of diligently visiting the grassroots and connecting closely with the public, the campaign team of the DPP's Su Chiao-hui is adopting a dual-track approach focusing on propaganda and organizational mobilization. The fundraising merchandise unveiled today features everyday practical items like apparel, hats, and towels. Beyond serving as a common method to raise campaign funds during an election period, their more important function is to shape the team's visual identity and foster a sense of identity among supporters. These items are scheduled to officially launch on the 5th, and are expected to spark a wave of enthusiastic purchasing and responses from supporters through the connection of online social communities and physical bases. In an era where elections are highly reliant on digital marketing and mass mobilization, translating identity into concrete substantive support and votes is often a key factor to winning. By introducing fundraising merchandise that combines a sense of design with practicality, Su's team is demonstrating a youthful and tightly organized campaign rhythm.

From the perspective of the overall electoral situation, as the largest voting bloc in Taiwan, the election results in New Taipei City will not only affect the regime layouts of both the blue and green parties, but are also regarded as an important weather vane for the 2026 local elections and even future national elections. Su has long been active in the legislature and has deeply cultivated New Taipei for many years, giving her a profound understanding of local public sentiments. Meanwhile, Li possesses rich central and local government administrative experience, and his pragmatic style has also accumulated a good reputation among cross-party voters. As the candidates from the two major camps gradually demonstrate their respective campaign rhythms and strategies—one consolidating its support base and expanding online visibility through promotional merchandise, while the other pulls out stops in traditional difficult constituencies through solid grassroots campaigning and symposiums—this battle for the New Taipei City mayoral seat has entered a white-hot stage ahead of schedule.

Looking ahead to future campaign developments, as polling day gradually approaches, aside from clashes between the blue and green camps over policy deliverables and urban visions, traditional organizational mobilization and new-style online social media warfare will also be launched simultaneously. The mass cohesion demonstrated by Su's campaign team through fundraising merchandise, and the grassroots outreach heat shown by Li in the Sanchong-Luzhou area, are merely preludes in this long-distance marathon. When facing candidates with different party backgrounds and personal traits, voters will place greater emphasis on who can propose a concrete municipal blueprint that directly addresses public needs. This New Taipei City election is not only a major showdown of personal political seniority and charisma between the two candidates, but also a comprehensive test of the local governance achievements and future visions of the two major political parties.