He took the lead in handling the Greenland stand-off with the United States, and went viral for his fist-bump following a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
With his signature pipe in hand, and surrounded by supporters on Tuesday night, Rasmussen told the crowd he favoured forming a government across the centre.
“We’re standing in the middle,” he said. “We’re ready.”
But Troels Lund Poulsen, who leads the Liberals, the blue bloc’s biggest party, has flatly ruled out going into government again with the Social Democrats, and urged Rasmussen to join him on the right. “It is possible to get a new direction in Denmark,” he said.
DR’s political correspondent, Christine Cordsen, has suggested that the most likely outcome is a center-left government with the Social Democrats, Red-Greens, the Moderates and the Danish Social Liberal Party.
This has been a bruising election outcome for Frederiksen, who after six years in power has seen her popularity wane, even as most Danes say they think she’s done a good job steering Denmark through international crises.
The election has come in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s repeated demands to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Frederiksen, 48, called the vote months earlier than expected, gambling that her boosted poll numbers over her handling of US President Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland would help hand her a third term.
However it was domestic, rather than geopolitical concerns, that dominated the campaign trail. These included the cost of living, the state of the economy and welfare concerns, though the high level of pesticides in drinking water – because of pig farming – and the climate footprint of agriculture have also become a concern for voters.