Despite being an exceptional serviceman, Quispe was precluded from attaining the rank of corporal due to his lack of a high school diploma, a fact that motivated him to complete his education.

He moved to El Alto, graduating from the Center for Accelerated Secondary Education before going on to work in a variety of blue-collar fields, including as a cobbler, mechanic, and service driver.

Following the election of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, Quispe was an active opposition leader, taking part in protests in El Alto during the 2003 gas conflict.

Quispe's rise within indigenist circles culminated in his 2010 election as a member of the governing board of the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ), serving as mallku of the organization's Extractive Industries Commission.

[6] By late 2013, Quispe, having risen to national prominence, sought to position himself as an indigenous alternative to the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), with his name emerging as a potential candidate for the presidency on behalf of CONAMAQ.

However, internal disputes over the coalition's presidential ballot quickly fractured the alliance, with the "freethinkers" pushing Delgado for the presidency while CONAMAQ lobbied for Quispe to head the ticket.

However, in November, UD requested that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) authorize Quispe to serve as a substitute deputy, filling the vacancy left by María Eugenia Calcina, who assumed the primary position due to Jaime Navarro's last-minute withdrawal from the race.

[15][16] Throughout his term in the Chamber of Deputies, Quispe's humorous but polemic style of politics, described by Página Siete as "characterized by ... sarcastic statements or by attitudes that he assumed in certain controversial cases," made him a well-known and contentious figure.

[17] When Morales sought to amend the Constitution to abolish term limits, Quispe protested the move, attending a session of the lower house adorned with a cardboard Inca crown, mockingly declaring: "I also want to be a king.

[28][29] In response, Quispe challenged judicial officials to apprehend him, even waiting outside the office of departmental prosecutor Edwin Blanco, bringing with him a tray of fifteen eggs "in case he lacks them.

"[32] Quispe's confrontational attitude quickly established him as a prominent independent figure within the legislature, with disputes between himself and members of both the ruling party and his own caucus even netting him a six-month suspension from office at one point.

For the duration of his tenure, Quispe operated largely independently of his caucus, remaining connected with legislators of the Social Democratic Movement (MDS)—the secondary force within the UD alliance, after UN—but never fully joining the party's ranks.

[34][35] Instead, Quispe maintained individual working relationships with like-minded legislators; in particular, Urgente.bo noted his association with UN deputies Amilcar Barral and Wilson Santamaría, with the three parliamentarians having "closed ranks as a trio.

[37][38] As part of his joke campaign, Quispe invited the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Gabriela Montaño, to serve as his running mate, a proposition the MAS legislator called "idiotic.

Quispe pointed to a constitutional referendum rejecting the abolishment of terms limits to justify his view of Morales as an "illegal candidate," warning that should the president win, "the only way to remove [him] from the [presidential] palace [will be] with mobilizations, with blockades, and with blood.

"[47] Quispe's statements preceded broader unrest in the country, with allegations of electoral fraud sparking mass protests nationwide, culminating in Morales's resignation just over a month later.

[51] As head of the Indigenous Fund, Quispe oversaw the reactivation of the body's long-stalled embezzlement inquiry, expanding the case to include many of Morales's most influential former ministers.

In December, the Fund submitted a request to revoke the house arrest granted to former minister Nemesia Achacollo; judicial authorities complied, transferring her to Miraflores prison as a measure of preventative detention.

[52][53] Early into the new year, Quispe expanded the investigation to include former members of the Indigenous Fund's board of supervisors, a body presided over by former ministers Juan Ramón Quintana [es], Carlos Romero, and Luis Arce.

[58] In mid-April, the Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into Quispe on allegations that he violated this norm by meeting with community leaders in San Pedro de Curahuara,[δ] for which he faced being charged for crimes against public health.

[61] Nonetheless, the scandal led Minister of Government Arturo Murillo to publicly request Quispe's resignation, an action he refused to take, regarding it as an admission of guilt.

[69] Quispe held that post until early October, when he was appointed to serve as vice minister of decolonization, a position he exercised for just under a month, resigning on 4 November to inaugurate his campaign headquarters with intent to contest the La Paz governorship.

With that in mind, and in coordination with Santamaría, the indigenous legislator spent much of his time touring the department's rural areas with a view toward gaining support to seek the governorship.

[76] When Ortiz's running mate, Edwin Rodríguez, withdrew from the race, Quispe was profiled as a potential replacement vice-presidential candidate, though ultimately, Deputy Shirley Franco got the nod.

In September, Quispe officially launched his La Paz gubernatorial campaign as part of Somos Pueblo Demócrata, an alliance legally registered by the MDS and New Social Option, a local political organization.

[83] Following the October general elections, Quispe relaunched his gubernatorial campaign, joining forces with municipalist Iván Arias to form For the Common Good – Somos Pueblo (PBCSP), an alliance between their two political organizations.

The candidate rejected political pamphleteering as "the work of old politicians," gearing his social media campaign towards younger and urban sectors of the population, considering them to be the "hidden vote of the middle class."

Conversely, Quispe's ground campaign brought him to many of the department's more rural areas, where he made use of his Aymara language proficiency to put forth a series of policy proposals aimed at aiding local indigenous peoples, a group he considered largely "abandoned.

Quispe denounced the conviction as an act of political sabotage aimed at disqualifying his candidacy, with his lawyer, Eduardo León, stating that he had observed "obvious" pressure from the government.

In 2015, Deputy María Eugenia Calcina accused him of being the owner of a network of bars and brothels in the city, a concept Quispe vehemently rejected as a politically motivated attack against his character.