Chiang Wan-an

Chiang Wan-an's camp has framed the 2026 re-election race as "overtime for city governance," asking Taipei residents to give their verdict on his first-term record. The long-delayed Taipei Dome was completed and opened on his watch, and in February 2026 Nvidia signed surface-rights contracts with the city government for plots T17 and T18 in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park, confirming that its Taiwan headquarters will be in Taipei — two achievements that underpin his image as a mayor who can push stalled projects across the finish line. Elected in 2022 at the age of 43, he is the youngest mayor in Taipei's history, and his status as a grandson of Chiang Ching-kuo and a fourth-generation member of the Chiang family gives him built-in national name recognition. Compared with New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih, known for his steady style, who ran as the KMT's 2024 presidential candidate during his second term, Chiang is more often seen as the face of the blue camp's next generation, and many therefore read the capital's mayoralty as a springboard to higher office. By drafting legislator Puma Shen, who is under criminal investigation by police in Chongqing, China, the DPP has given the race a strong cross-strait coloring: Chiang supports continuing the Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum, while Shen called the forum "an opening for infiltration" in April before saying in October that the existing exchange framework could be kept for now. In TVBS's October poll, his job-approval rating stood at 52%, 7 percentage points lower than in May, and his lead over Shen narrowed from 28 points to 8. Whether his first-term record can win residents' trust once again in this head-to-head blue-green contest is the central test of his reputation this year.