Listen: Copenhagen turns against PM Frederiksen’s party over housing costs

In Copenhagen, a political earthquake might be brewing. For the first time in over 120 years, Denmark’s Social Democrats are on track to lose control of Copenhagen, a city they’ve governed since 1903, longer than most European republics have even existed.

Every single lord mayor since 1938 has been a Social Democrat. But perhaps that changes tonight. But why can these local elections shift Denmark’s power play?

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You can find the transcript here if you prefer reading:

In Copenhagen a political earthquake might be brewing. For the first time in over 120 years, Denmark’s Social Democrats are on track to lose control of Copenhagen, a city they’ve governed since 1903, longer than most European republics have even existed. Every single lord mayor since 1938 has been a Social Democrat. But perhaps that changes tonight. But why can these local elections shift Denmark’s power play?

Today the Danes vote in municipal and regional elections and the polls suggest that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are on track to lose Copenhagen, with their candidate, former minister Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, likely to be defeated by a coalition of left-wing parties, including the Green Left, the Red-Green Alliance, and the Alternative. Among the frontrunners to become the next mayor is Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left.

Prime minister Mette Frederiksen, who handpicked Rosenkrantz-Theil, has spent the last years pulling the Social Democrats sharply to the centre and, at times, to the right. Her hardline stance on migration, her anti-elite rhetoric, and her alliances with economically liberal parties may have worked in rural Denmark, but in Copenhagen? Not so much.

And then there’s the housing crisis, the defining issue of this election. Copenhagen, once a gritty port, is now a global urban success story, the city is clean, safe, green, and… extremely expensive.

The average flat has jumped by nearly 30 percent in four years, pushing out exactly the working-class voters who once formed the backbone of the party.

Add to that a series of leadership scandals, including the 2020 resignation of long-standing mayor Frank Jensen over sexual harassment allegations and the departure of his successor in circumstances widely interpreted as a lack of confidence.

Meanwhile, Rosenkrantz-Theil herself is struggling to distance her campaign from her own record as housing minister, where critics say she failed to address the very crisis she’s now vowing to fix.

Now this election shows that urban voters are drifting away from a party that once represented workers and is now seen as more interested in border controls than affordable housing.

Some Copenhageners say the Social Democrats have “lost their soul”. Others simply say they’re no longer cool and honestly, in a city where 20 percent of the electorate is foreign-born and a large share is young and progressive, image does matter.

And while Europe’s narrative is usually about the far right rising on cost-of-living anxieties, Copenhagen is showing something different: left-wing parties making major gains by talking about housing, equity, and environmental goals.

So, what’s next?

If the Social Democrats lose Copenhagen tonight, the internal debate will be fierce. Do they double down on centrism or return to their working-class roots? With a national election due within a year, the pressure to shift will only grow.

For the European centre-left more broadly, Copenhagen will be held up as a case study:
You can’t outflank the right without risking your base. At least, not in a capital city full of students and migrants.

And for Copenhagen itself, the next government, likely a left-wing coalition, will be judged very quickly. On housing, on climate, and on whether they can rebuild the social contract that once made the city a Social Democrat stronghold.