Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an will sweep all 12 of the city's districts in a three-day motorcade from November 24 to 26, Storm Media has learned, a final push timed for the closing days of the most closely watched race in the 2026 Taiwan local elections, which go to the polls on November 28.
The schedule is the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) incumbent's most direct answer yet to the crowds following his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger, Puma Shen. Shen's supporters call his campaign the "Yang Wave," a play on the last character of his Chinese name, and DPP backers have mocked Chiang online for steering clear of the convoy-style street campaigning that has powered Shen's run.
Chiang Will Cover All 12 Taipei Districts In Three Days
Motorcades, known in Taiwan as "car sweeps," are a staple of local campaigning: a candidate rides standing in an open vehicle at the head of a convoy, waving to residents as supporters follow. Chiang's itinerary groups the districts in the same pairs that make up Taipei's six city council constituencies, covering two districts in the morning and two in the afternoon.
- November 24: Songshan and Xinyi in the morning; Zhongshan and Datong in the afternoon
- November 25: Zhongzheng and Wanhua in the morning; Shilin and Beitou in the afternoon
- November 26: Da'an and Wenshan in the morning; Neihu and Nangang in the afternoon
The final leg wraps up two days before polling day, giving Chiang a citywide presence in the stretch when undecided voters typically make up their minds.
Chiang Calls On KMT Allies From Kaohsiung And New Taipei
Chiang has also been bringing in party heavyweights. On the evening of November 3, he worked the crowds at Ningxia Night Market with Ko Chih-en, the KMT's candidate for mayor of the southern port city of Kaohsiung. Supporters packed the lanes and chanted "Kaohsiung flips, Taipei wins," according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.
His camp has also lined up a joint rally with New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih, the KMT's term-limited leader of Taiwan's most populous city, at Huarong Market in Shilin, as it tries to close the final mile of the race.
Ruling Party Challenger's Supporters Take To The River
Shen, a DPP legislator whom Beijing has sanctioned as a "diehard Taiwan independence separatist," has drawn packed streets at every motorcade. His campaign's closing motorcade is set for November 15 in Shilin and Beitou, in the city's north, and some supporters, who call themselves "little water droplets," have chartered boats to cheer him on from the Tamsui River, a move local media have dubbed a "waterborne surprise attack."
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu wrote on Facebook and Threads: "I heard the yacht companies on the Tamsui River are all booked up. Is this true?! This is the Yang Wave's big motorcade, so how did the Shilin and Beitou leg end up looking like an amphibious landing!"
Not everyone in the Shen camp was amused. Supporters online warned one another to put safety first and to pay for their own boat tickets and meals, since Taiwan's Civil Servants Election and Recall Act bars treating voters to free or heavily discounted perks. Asked about the boats on November 2, Shen said: "Safety is the most important thing, and everyone must follow the relevant regulations."
Taipei Polls Point In Opposite Directions
Polls in the 2026 Taiwan local elections offer little agreement on who leads the capital. An ETtoday Poll Cloud online survey taken after the October 31 televised debate put Chiang at 52.0% and Shen at 40.7%, an 11.3-point lead for the incumbent. A TVBS telephone poll conducted the same day found Chiang ahead by 4 points in overall support, even though respondents who rated Shen the better debater outnumbered those who preferred Chiang by 7 points.
Other surveys show the reverse. A poll released on November 2 by the Taiwan Strategy Research Association gave Shen 52.6% to Chiang's 35.3%. An earlier poll commissioned by the Xinmin Cross-Strait Research Association and designed by pollster Dai Li-an, released on October 20, had Shen ahead 50.3% to 33.3%.
Party loyalties may be shifting beneath the race. My-Formosa's national poll released on November 3 found 40.8% of respondents identifying with the DPP, against 19.4% for the KMT and 8.9% for the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), with 15.9% neutral. KMT figures have dismissed surveys showing big DPP leads, but whether quieter opposition voters turn out on November 28 may decide if Chiang's closing motorcade is enough to hold Taipei, long a KMT stronghold.
About the polls: The ETtoday Poll Cloud survey was a closed online questionnaire distributed by email and text message from 4 p.m. on October 31 to noon on November 1, 2026, to Taipei residents aged 20 and older registered in the city's 12 districts. It collected 1,965 valid responses, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The TVBS Poll Center surveyed Taipei residents aged 20 and older by landline from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on October 31, completing 1,747 valid interviews, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 points. The Taiwan Strategy Research Association poll was conducted on October 31 and November 1 by landline and mobile phone among Taipei residents aged 20 and older, with 1,436 respondents (884 landline, 552 mobile) and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 points. The Xinmin association poll was conducted by Beacon Market Research by telephone from October 14 to 16, with 1,075 valid responses and a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 points. All margins are at a 95% confidence level.
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