Taiwan's 2026 local elections are three months out, and the fight for Taipei mayor is turning into a test of whether the DPP can crack a city the KMT now holds — bad news for the DPP unless its candidate breaks out of his own bubble.

• Former cabinet minister Chang Ching-sen says DPP candidate Puma Shen should stop preaching to supporters and go ask past Taipei mayors — including Ma Ying-jeou, Ko Wen-je and media figure Jaw Shaw-kong — how to win the city.
• His argument: only the opposition will say honestly why voters dislike the DPP, which is where incumbent Chiang Wan-an's real weak spots show up.
• Chiang is not as strong as he looks, Chang argues, and an underdog can't win by just rolling out staff-planned events and talking points.
• Elsewhere the map is tightening: New Taipei polls show the DPP within a couple of points of the KMT, while a tainted-cooking-oil scandal is hurting the DPP in Kaohsiung.
• President Lai Ching-te's plan to hand out cash to every citizen next year is widely read as a move the opposition will block — which may be exactly the point.

Outlook: Expect both camps to spend the next three months fighting over a handful of swing counties, with Taipei, New Taipei and Kaohsiung setting the tone for the 2028 presidential race.