Chou served two terms on the Legislative Yuan before he was elected as the Magistrate of Taipei County in the 2005 Republic of China local election held on 3 December 2005 and took office on 20 December 2005. In October 2017, Chou declared his candidacy for the New Taipei mayoralty.[5] He registered for the Kuomintang mayoral primary in March 2018.[6] In February 2019, Chou announced his bid for the 2020 Kuomintang presidential nomination.[7]