On 26 November 2018, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office and incumbent Taipei City Councillor Lo Chih-chiang became the first candidate who announced his candidacy on Facebook.

[7] The richest man in Taiwan and the founder and chairman of electronic company Foxconn Terry Gou was also reported to be interested in running in the election as a pan-Blue candidate.

Han Kuo-yu, Gou's potential rival, announced on 23 April that he was "willing to take responsibility" for the development of Taiwan but was "unable" to participate in the party's primary in its current form.

In order to settle the differences, the party adopted a resolution to put in place special guidelines to include all its presidential hopefuls, including Han, in its primary on the next day, and also switch the primary method from 70-30 weighing of public opinion polls and party member votes to fully being determined by opinion polls.

On 15 May, Kuomintang Central Standing Committee decided to change the format of the primary to a single nationwide opinion poll and to name its candidate by late July.

[23] The Kuomintang announced five primary contestants on June 10, 2019: Chang Ya-chung, Chou Hsi-wei, Eric Chu, Terry Gou, and Han Kuo-yu.