Lin launched a bid for a seat on the National Assembly in 1991 and served until 2000. While a member of the assembly, he was elected mayor of Banqiao and reelected in 2001. Lin stepped down in 2005 at the end of that second term to run for the Legislative Yuan. He was twice reelected to the Legislative Yuan, in 2008 and 2012, but refused to stand in the 2016 election, because his party, the Kuomintang, had suffered heavy losses in the November 2014 local elections.[1][2]