Yu Shu-chen, the Kuomintang nominee and Ji’an Township head, leads the November 28, 2026 Hualien County Magistrate race with overwhelming trader support due to official party endorsement in a longstanding pan-blue stronghold. Her nomination followed an internal KMT survey victory over rivals including Yeh Yao-hui, providing institutional resources and ground organization that independents lack. Wei Chia-hsien and Chang Chun, both former KMT figures running as independents, have split pan-blue support while appealing to different local factions and some DPP-leaning voters; polls through September consistently placed Yu ahead though with substantial undecided shares. Lo Pei-chin of the Taiwan Labor Party trails further behind. Candidate registration closed in early September with no consolidation among challengers, reinforcing the market’s assessment of Yu’s structural edge ahead of the vote.