Valcárcel started his political career in 1982, the year in which he joined the Popular Alliance and later took on responsibility for the territorial organization of the Local Meeting of the municipality of Murcia. In October 1983, he became a member of the Executive Regional Committee of the PP, as the person in charge of the Territorial Area of the Region of Murcia. Four years later, in 1987, he was nominated a regional vice-president of the People's party. In the Municipal Elections of 1987 he was elected a councilman of the Town of Murcia, regaining the function of president and speaker of the Municipal Group for the People's party. In 1991, as head of list of the People's party, he won the Municipal Elections to the Town of Murcia, though an agreement between the Socialist and the United Left parties prevented him from acceding to the Mayoralty. In November 1991, he was elected president of the People's party of the Region of Murcia, a post that he has retained in successive congresses.
President of the Region of Murcia in May, 1995, the People's party managed to overturn the political landscape of the Region of Murcia, till then governed by the Socialist party. Ramon Luis Valcárcel was unseated as president of the Autonomous Community in the support of the absolute majority of the Regional Assembly. In 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 he confirmed the above-mentioned majorities, being the candidacy headed by Ramon Luis Valcárcel most voted of all those they meet to the Autonomous Elections of 2011 in the set of the Autonomous Communities of Spain, with 58,8% of the votes. He obtains 33 seats of a whole of 45 in the Regional Assembly of Murcia. Identical results were given in the municipal elections or in the processes of top area in the Region of Murcia during his tenure. Far from suffering a decline, the People's party of the Region of Murcia has continued increasing its popular support election after choice. Since becoming president of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, he has occupied in addition diverse charges in the heart of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union and the Inter Mediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe.
Member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR)
From February 2002, Valcárcel was a member of the Commission of Territorial Cohesion, and from March, 2006, member of the Commission of Sustainable Development. Likewise he is a vice-president of the Group of the European People's Party of the . In 2003 he was part of the Delegation of the CoR in the European Convention that was entrusted with the elaboration of the Constitutional Agreement for the European Union. Between 2004 and 2006 he was President of the Committee of the Regions' Commission for External Relations. In July 2012 he was elected President of the CoR for a period of 2.5 years, taking over the presidency of Mercedes Bresso. From September 2002, Valcárcel was the vice-president of the Political Bureau of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe. Between 1999 and 2001 he presided at the Inter Mediterranean Commission.
Member of the European Parliament, 2014–present
On 14 April 2014, Valcárcel resigned as President of the Region of Murcia as he was one of the People's Party's candidates in the European Parliament election. He became one of sixteen MEPs elected by the People's Party. Valcárcel has since been serving as Vice-President of the European Parliament and a member of its Committee on Regional Development. In his capacity as vice-president, he is also in charge of overseeing the parliament's research service and library; relations with national parliaments; and relations with the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. In 2015, news media reported that Valcárcel was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the European Union who are not allowed to enter the country.
