Cho Kuan-ting: The Sprint to City Council

Cho Kuan-ting, aged 36, is one of the 17 candidates running for city councilor in New Taipei City's largest electoral district, the Tucheng-Shulin-Sanxia-Yingge district, which has a population of 620 thousand.

Cho was nominated by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to run for one of ten seats in the district. The party’s nomination was determined by an inter-party primary conducted via telephone polling, through which six candidates were nominated out of seven. Cho led the polls with a 22% support rate; the runner-up lagged behind at 18%.

Cho said during an interview, that even though he swiftly and successfully obtained the party’s nomination, “the real sprint lies ahead.”

Though this is Cho’s first bid for elected office, he is no stranger to politics. He graduated from the National Chengchi University with a Bachelor’s in Public Administration. After graduating, his first jobs were in print media, working at the Commonwealth Magazine and Liberty Times News, before becoming a legislative aide.

At the Legislative Yuan, Cho worked for former legislator Lin Chialung, quickly becoming an important asset to the rising politician. Lin would later be elected as Taichung mayor for one term, during which Cho served as the chief of the city’s Information Bureau at the age of 28. He was the youngest chief of any municipal department to be appointed.

When Lin was tapped by President Tsai Ing-wen as the Minister of Transportation and Communications in 2019, Cho served as his chief of staff. He later resigned in 2019 to support his wife, former independent legislator Hung Tzu-yung, in her reelection campaign.

With almost a decade of experience in public administration, Cho made the surprising decision to step temporarily away from politics to catch his breath. In 2020, Cho enrolled in the Master of Public Affairs program at the University of California, Berkeley. He obtained his degree during the pandemic and returned to Taiwan in 2021.

In Taiwan, Cho was faced with a dilemma. With his political resume, it wouldn’t have been hard to land a respectable position in the party or even the central government. But he chose differently.

“At that point, I thought to myself, if I’m able to apply all my experiences from working in the local, central, and legislative branches towards serving my hometown, this would be something worth running for,” said Cho.

Cho was born and raised in Yingge, New Taipei City. Though his work in politics has brought him to other parts of the country, he still feels an undeniable connection with his hometown, for which he believes much more can be achieved.

Though Cho’s motivation to run for office is to serve his hometown, he admits that on a personal level, he sees this election as a challenge for himself in this chapter of his life– his decade of experience in public administration, the education he earned, and all that defined him put to the test at the city council race.

When asked if age was a consideration in his decision to run for office, Cho disagreed.

He analyzed that in his electoral district, with a total of 10 city councilor seats available, each city councilor would only need to obtain seven or eight percent of the vote. Thus, the district has historically provided younger politicians with as many opportunities as veteran politicians.

“I became a first-level supervisor at 28,” Cho said, referring to his role as the chief of Taichung City’s Information Bureau. “If we want to talk about being a young politician, I’m now 36, and that’s not very young anymore.”

Though being young seems to be all the rage in politics in the 2022 elections, the label of a “young politician” may easily connote inexperience. Similarly, Cho represents a party known for investing in the younger generation.

“If you have what it takes, the DPP is a party that is willing to give you the opportunity and a platform,” he said, adding that, unlike other parties, age is only a part of what makes a good candidate.

Cho believes that at the age of 36, he retains the drive of a younger politician, but also possesses the political preparedness to effectively serve his hometown.

Cho is not only confident in his abilities, but that his party will see victory in New Taipei City, which has been under KMT governance for almost 17 years, from former mayors Chou Hsiwei and Eric Chu to incumbent mayor Hou You-ih.

“Let’s be honest, Mayor Hou You-Yi has had 12 years, as deputy mayor and then mayor, to make improvements to New Taipei City, and he’s done everything he can. So you really can’t expect anything more from him,” said Cho.

Cho cited a few issues that have not been addressed by the city, including its overworked police force, its lack of progress in city planning, and outdated basic infrastructure, all of which would require a more experienced and effective government.

With his former employer, Lin Chia-lung, running for New Taipei City mayor, Cho believes that the DPP will have to play as a team– to lay out the best policy initiatives to convince citizens that this team is better equipped to govern.

“I hope to become a brave voice that speaks up for the people,” Cho said, regardless of which mayoral candidate wins.

He believes that for New Taipei to improve, the city council should not act as a mere echo chamber for the city government, but as a strong supervisor that weighs substantive results over patting oneself on the back.

Facing a 17-candidate race, Cho remains unfazed. With the drive of a young politician, the experience of a veteran, and a mouth as sharp as his mind, Cho is surely a force to be reckoned with in not only the sprint that lies ahead but in the New Taipei City Council and the many battlegrounds that are sure to lie ahead of him.