[5] In 1984, while still with the Progress Party, she secured her first seat in the Folketing (Danish parliament), representing the Copenhagen County constituency (10 January 1984 – 8 September 1987).

In the 2005 election, the DPP's share grew to 13.2%, with Kjærsgaard receiving 38,347 "personal votes", second to only the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Kjærsgaard was proposed both by the four parties supporting Lars Løkke Rasmussen's new government, and from the opposition by the Social Democrats and the Greenlandic Siumut.

As such, the DPP was able to provide key parliamentary support for the center-right, Liberal-Conservative minority government led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Her view on immigration has often led to her being compared to politicians such as Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and Pim Fortuyn in The Netherlands.

[9] In 1998, Kjærsgaard was assaulted by members of an angry mob during a demonstration by the far left autonome movement in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen.

[10] In 1999, accusations of nepotism were levied against the DPP after it was revealed that Kjærsgaard's husband, Henrik Thorup, had been paid by the party as an independent consultant for over two years.

The DPP refused to reveal Thorup's salary and defended its actions, claiming that Pia Kjærsgaard's husband was the right man for the job and that his employment had nothing to do with his marriage to the party leader.

The Court ruled that Sunds' remarks had only implied that Kjærsgaard had a negative opinion of immigrants, and were not properly interpreted as an accusation of espousing biologically-grounded racism or Nazi racial theory.