Taichung mayoral race heats up post-typhoon with new city council visions.

Typhoon Goni gradually shifted direction over waters east of Taichung and moved away from the main island early Tuesday morning, bringing an end to the tense disaster prevention alerts. Following two days of typhoon-related holidays, the political atmosphere in Taichung immediately revived. He Xin-chun and Chiang Chi-cheng, the mayoral candidates from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Kuomintang (KMT), respectively, rushed to campaign events for their respective party-affiliated city councilor candidates on Wednesday, heating up the upcoming simultaneous elections for mayor and city councilors scheduled for November. He held a "Guarding Taichung" promotional briefing at the Xinguang Li community activity center in the northern district alongside DPP-nominated city councilor candidates. Meanwhile, Chiang hosted a "New Urban Vision" forum at Liming Plaza in the Xitun district with KMT city councilor candidates. Both candidates adopted the slogan "Hand in Hand with the City Council," emphasizing coordination and cooperation between the mayor and councilors.

The Taichung mayoral race, which officially launched at the end of last year, has become one of the focal points of the 2024 local elections. He, who has served as Vice Speaker of the Taichung City Council since 2022, gained grassroots support for her advocacy of public infrastructure and social welfare issues within the council. She was nominated by the DPP as its mayoral candidate earlier this year. In contrast, Chiang is a veteran KMT politician who previously served as Vice Speaker of the Legislative Yuan. He returned to Taichung in 2023, vowing to challenge the DPP’s governing performance with a focus on "economic recovery" and "urban governance." Over the past few months, both candidates have held numerous large-scale rallies and policy briefings to attract voter attention and support. Their recent appearances at city councilor campaign events aim not only to boost their own visibility but also to lift the prospects of their party’s councilor candidates, creating a "mayor-councilor" double-win electoral strategy.

The city councilor elections in Taichung are also drawing significant attention. According to the Election Committee’s plan, the Taichung City Council comprises 63 seats, with nominations from the DPP, KMT, and opposition parties such as the Taiwan People’s Party. Experience from previous local elections indicates that the distribution of council seats directly affects the mayor’s room for maneuver and the efficiency of policy implementation. If the mayor and the council majority belong to the same party, policy implementation faces relatively less resistance; however, in cases of divided government, the council may obstruct or require negotiation on policies. Consequently, the two mayoral candidates must not only compete for the mayoral vote but also assist their party’s councilor candidates in securing enough seats to ensure stable governance in the future. He emphasized the concepts that "the council is the voice of citizens" and "the mayor and councilors jointly guard Taichung" during her event, attempting to project an image of DPP unity within the council. Chiang, on the other hand, appealed to "efficiency and transparency," pointing out that the KMT’s past experience in the council has allowed for effective oversight of the government and the securing of more resources for citizens.

During the typhoon holiday, several scheduled campaign events were forced to be postponed or converted to online live streams, significantly impacting the candidates’ schedules. Weather bureau alerts and warnings from disaster prevention units forced a temporary pause in the election pace, shifting public focus briefly to disaster prevention and post-disaster recovery. As Typhoon Goni moved away, the election campaign resumed normalcy, and candidates must quickly make up for the exposure lost due to the natural disaster. Both He and Chiang arranged intensive media interviews and social media interactions during their Wednesday appearances, attempting to rapidly rebuild topic momentum. Analysts pointed out that the impact of natural disasters on the election goes beyond schedule delays; it may also alter voters’ evaluations of the government’s disaster prevention capabilities, thereby affecting their trust in the ruling party. The DPP’s past disaster prevention performance has been criticized by some citizens as "lacking information transparency," while the KMT has used "rapid response" as a campaign slogan. The stances and past performances of both parties on disaster prevention issues will leave different impressions on voters.

In the long term, the simultaneous elections for Taichung mayor and city councilors will test the organizational and mobilization capabilities of the two major parties at the local level. If the DPP secures majorities in both the mayoral race and the council, it will have the opportunity to advance large-scale public infrastructure projects over the next four years, such as subway extensions, green energy industry deployment, and the renovation of aging communities. Conversely, if the KMT secures key council seats, it can exert substantive influence on municipal budgets and execution through its oversight role, even if the mayoral seat goes to the opposition. The recent campaign appearances by He and Chiang represent crucial vote-getting actions in the final stage of the election, indicating that the competition extends beyond the mayoral level to an intense battle for council seats. As election day approaches, voter intentions will be influenced by multiple factors, including candidates’ policy platforms, past track records, and recent disaster prevention performance. The political landscape of Taichung will be revealed by the voting results in November.

(Source: Central News Agency)