In 1989, at age 23, he started his political career by running unsuccessfully for a seat in the National Congress.
In 2004 he started an internal movement within the Liberal Party in order to win candidacy for President of Honduras in the near future.
His movement lost the internal elections of the Liberal Party in 2005 by a wide margin, but helped him to secure a future appointment as Minister in the Government of Manuel Zelaya.
In December 2006 Lara was one of the Government Officials who failed the annual evaluation performed by President Zelaya.
Marlon Lara served as Elvin Ernesto Santos national chairperson during the 2009 elections.