From 2010, Hsiao spent a decade representing the DPP in Hualien County, a strongly pro-Kuomintang conservative region. In the same year, she lost with a slim minority in a by-election, but was still regarded as having broken the "iron vote" of the Kuomintang. She then set up a Hualien service office, and continued making weekly journeys between Taipei and Hualien.
