Within the Democratic Progressive Party, Shen was affiliated with the New Tide faction.[3] He has also led the DPP's Policy Committee.[4] Following his tenure within the policy committee, Shen became a member of the party's central standing committee.[5][6]
Shen served on the Taipei County Council from 1998 to 2005, when he was elected to the Legislative Yuan.[1][7] He ended his reelection campaign in May 2007, after losing a party primary,[8] and returned to work for Frank Hsieh.[9] Shen was elected to the New Taipei City Council in 2010.[10] He lost a legislative bid in 2012,[11] but was reelected to the NTCC in 2014.[12] In 2015, the Taiwan High Court ruled that Shen and nine other city council members were not guilty of displaying their vote in a council speakership election held by secret ballot in 2010.[13] Shen was supportive of Sunflower Student Movement activist and academic Huang Kuo-chang's 2016 legislative campaign.[14] Shen stepped down from the New Taipei City Council at the end of his second term in 2018, and returned to the Legislative Yuan in 2020.[15] Shen won a second consecutive term on the Legislative Yuan in 2024, and his third term overall.[16]
