A member of the Communist Party, he was supported by the right-wing LDPR in his successful bid to unseat the incumbent head Viktor Zimin of the ruling United Russia party, highlighting a rise in anti-establishment sentiment in the country during the period.

Coordinated efforts to prevent him from winning the second round garnered national attention, with a similar situation occurring during his successful for re-election in 2023.

[3] When he was a child, he moved to Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, with his parents, both engineers, where he completed his education.

In March 2018, he was elected First Secretary of the Committee (leader) of the Khakass Republican Branch of the Communist party.

[7] On 21 June 2018, Valentin Konovalov was nominated as a candidate for Head of Khakassia from the Communist party.

Under the law, it is possible to withdraw a registered candidate within 10 days, except in cases where there are newly discovered circumstances.

[16] On 13 October, the interim Head of Khakassia Mikhail Razvozhayev, said he personally requested the Election Commission to withdraw the case from the Supreme Court to cancel the registration of Valentin Konovalov.

[17] On 15 October, the Republican Election Commission decided to withdraw its claim from the Supreme Court to cancel the registration.

The Supreme court of Khakassia also stopped consideration of the claim of the candidate for the head of Khakassia from the party of growth Alexander Mekhar to cancel the registration of Valentin Konovalov on the basis of the decision of the Election Commission, which recognized one of the videos of the Communist party violating the law.

[20] His win coincided with the elections of Sergei Furgal and Vladimir Sipyagin, who also defeated United Russia incumbents in other regions.

United Russia ran State Duma member Sergey Sokol to challenge Konovolov's re-election bid.

His foreign policy has centred on aiming to increase trade and tourism cooperation with Asian countries, particularly fellow socialist Vietnam and China.

The United States added Konovalov to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List in February 2023, describing him as being involved in the "implementation of Russian operations and aggression against Ukraine” and "calling Russian citizens to fight in the war.