TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — DPP Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) became chair of the DPP’s Kaohsiung branch on Sunday, winning an uncontested election.
The DPP Kaohsiung branch said Huang received 26,381 votes from 44,118 registered party members, per CNA. The leadership handover is scheduled to begin in two weeks.
Commenting on her victory, Huang said she would continue the groundwork laid by her predecessor and maintain close ties with grassroots supporters.
A DPP insider said Huang’s victory signals the older generation handing the baton to politicians associated with the Sunflower Movement generation. The insider added that a key question will be how the younger generation handles the more routine aspects of politics, including balancing factional interests.
Huang first ran for the Kaohsiung City Council in 2018 on the New Power Party ticket, per ETtoday. She later left the party over what she described as an unfair internal admissions system. Huang joined the DPP in 2023 and was elected legislator in a 2024 by-election.
A local political insider said Huang’s smooth path to victory was largely due to consolidation efforts led by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁). The insider said there are two ways to interpret the decision to back Huang over other contenders.
One interpretation is that the DPP hopes to capitalize on Huang’s public profile ahead of upcoming local elections, prioritizing her popularity over experience managing local factions. Another possibility is that the move was intended to counterbalance the influence of the New Tide faction associated with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德).
Huang is a member of Taiwan Forward (湧言會), a faction that has worked closely with Chen’s political network in Kaohsiung, per NOWNews. A DPP insider said that although the New Tide faction controls roughly 15,000 party-member votes in Kaohsiung, Taiwan Forward and Chen’s allies together can reportedly mobilize about 23,000 votes.
In related news, DPP Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) lost his re-election bid for chair of the DPP’s Tainan branch to Tainan City Council Deputy Speaker Lin Chih-chan (林志展), per UP Media. Kuo lost to Lin by 38 votes despite Lai’s earlier efforts to persuade Lin not to enter the race.
Kuo said the loss was due to insufficient effort on his side, per UDN. However, DPP insiders in Tainan said Kuo’s defeat — after he beat the same opponent by 6,926 votes in the previous contest — could signal declining support for Lai in Tainan.
Both Kuo and Lin are members of the New Tide faction.
