María José Catalá Verdet

María José Catalá Verdet is a Partido Popular (PP) politician and the Mayor of Valencia, in office since 2023.

Political career

María José Catalá Verdet was born in 1981 and belongs to a generation of PP leaders who rose to prominence in Valencian politics during the 2010s and 2020s. Trained in law, she built her early political profile in local and regional institutions before moving into national politics. Her career has combined municipal governance, legislative work in Madrid, and a gradual ascent within the PP’s organisational structures in the Valencia region.

Her political trajectory is closely linked to the city of Valencia and to the broader political ecosystem of the Comunitat Valenciana. Before becoming mayor, Catalá held responsibilities that gave her visibility both as a city manager and as a party figure. She served as Member of Parliament in the Congress of Deputies from 2016 to 2023, representing the PP during a period in which the party was attempting to rebuild after the national losses of the early 2010s and the fragmentation of the Spanish party system.

From 2020 to 2023, she was PP spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, a role that placed her among the most prominent parliamentary voices of the party. This position meant she was one of the public faces of the PP in debates over the economy, institutional reform, territorial questions, and opposition scrutiny of the central government. The role also increased her profile inside the party by associating her with discipline, media skills and institutional experience.

In 2023, Catalá returned to local politics at the highest level when she became Mayor of Valencia. Her victory marked a major political turning point in the city, which is one of Spain’s largest and most symbolically important municipalities. As mayor, she has been expected to combine administrative management with the construction of a broad, centrist-leaning municipal image for the PP, appealing to voters beyond the party’s traditional base.

Relationship with the public

Catalá’s relationship with the public has generally been shaped by her profile as a municipal leader rather than a purely ideological figure. In Valencia, the mayoralty requires constant visibility, and her image has been tied to service delivery, city management and institutional presence. She has sought to project a pragmatic style, emphasising urban governance, economic activity, cleanliness, mobility and civic order rather than confrontational partisan rhetoric.

Her standing with the electorate has benefited from her ability to occupy a recognisable local identity while also retaining national exposure. As a parliamentary spokesperson, she gained familiarity through media appearances and regular parliamentary confrontation, which helped consolidate her reputation as a polished communicator. This has made her more visible than many local office-holders and has given her a dual profile: a city-focused administrator and a national PP figure.

Among civil society and the media, Catalá is typically seen as a institutional and disciplined politician, comfortable in formal settings and media-facing roles. In Valencia, she has had to engage with diverse social actors, including neighbourhood groups, business sectors and cultural institutions, while navigating the city’s highly plural political environment. Her style is generally associated with moderation and strategic communication, though, as with all senior Spanish municipal leaders, she also faces scrutiny over budget priorities, urban policy and the symbolic politics of the city council.

Positions and political profile

Catalá is generally identified with the moderate-conservative strand of the PP, combining institutional loyalty with an emphasis on managerial competence. Her political priorities have tended to reflect the needs of a large Mediterranean city: urban management, economic competitiveness, public services, mobility, and the role of the city in attracting investment and tourism. In national politics, her parliamentary work placed her in debates over territorial balance, constitutional politics and the opposition’s response to the central government.

Within the PP, she is often perceived as part of the party’s renewal and executive-capable generation: younger than many long-established figures, but already experienced in both parliament and local government. That has made her useful to the party as a communicator and as a representative of a more modern municipal conservatism. She has generally been associated with reliability, media discipline and a capacity to project authority without highly ideological positioning.

A key defining feature of her profile is the combination of national visibility and local executive power. Serving as parliamentary spokesperson from 2020 to 2023 required sharp opposition politics and a strong command of parliamentary messaging. Her subsequent move to the Valencia mayoralty shifted her from national confrontation to direct governance, where public expectations are more immediate and performance is judged through local services and city administration.

Her political image is also shaped by the fact that Valencia is a highly competitive and politically symbolic city. Leading it places her at the centre of debates over urban transformation, identity, economic development and the relationship between the Valencian capital and regional and national power structures. She is therefore judged not only as a mayor, but as one of the PP’s key political assets in eastern Spain.

Frequently asked questions

Who is María José Catalá? She is a Spanish PP politician born in 1981, currently serving as Mayor of Valencia.

What party does María José Catalá belong to? She is a member of the Partido Popular (PP), Spain’s main centre-right conservative party.

What office did she hold before becoming mayor? Before becoming mayor of Valencia in 2023, she was PP spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies from 2020 to 2023.

Has María José Catalá been a member of the national parliament? Yes. She was a Member of Parliament in the Congress of Deputies from 2016 to 2023.

What kind of politician is María José Catalá? She is generally seen as a pragmatic, institutionally minded conservative with a strong municipal and parliamentary profile.

What is María José Catalá known for politically? She is known for her role in the PP’s parliamentary leadership, her visibility in the media, and her leadership of Valencia’s city government.