Poplicola was a member of the patrician Valerii family, a clan which was very influential throughout the Republican period of the Roman state, and one which even retained their relevance some decades into the Empire.
In terms of his more immediate family, his filiation reveals that he was the son of a Publius and grandson of a Lucius, and thus was probably either the nephew or the cousin of Marcus Valerius Poplicola, another relatively influential politician of the time.
This standstill came to an end when the term of the dictator expired and he resigned, at which point the Senate allowed the election to be held in observance of the law, for fear that if they did not do so there would be great anger among the common people.
This was interpreted by the Romans as an inauspicious omen as supposedly a similar event about three hundred years earlier was a portent of a plague which indirectly led to the death of the third king of Rome, Tullus Hostilius.
This omen brought great alarm to the Senate, who then appointed Valerius as dictator to establish days of worship and mandate offerings so that the Romans could beg for forgiveness from their gods.