Party labels have traditionally been significantly important in elections. However, the recent influence of personalized politics has resulted in the de-labeling of candidates, even in grassroots-level village chief elections. This study explores the impact of (de) labeling on election outcomes, drawing from research on anti-party sentiment, negative partisanship, and the Citizen-Politician linkages theory. By analyzing data from four village chief elections held in Taiwan between 2010 and 2022. Our results reveal that “de-labeled” candidates tend to be non-incumbents in villages with lower population density, education levels, and income. In addition by utilizing Propensity Score Matching and the Two-way Fixed Effects model, our research shows that the de-labeling of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates generally increases their vote share, while labeling has the opposite effect. Most notably, the (de) labeling of Kuomintang (KMT) candidates does not significantly influence election outcomes, whereas that of DPP candidates does have an impact. This finding may highlight the distinct nature of clientelism linkages prevalent within the KMT, in contrast to the programmatic linkages within the DPP.