He finished Petőfi Sándor Secondary School at Bonyhád in 1985. In 1991 he graduated from Juhász Gyula Teacher Training College of Szeged as a teacher of Hungarian language, literature, history. In 1994 he graduated in history from Eötvös Loránd University (Eötvös Loránd University).
He was elected mayor of his birthplace in 2002, serving in this capacity until 2014. Potápi has been the Secretary of State for National Policy since June 15, 2014. He worked as an unqualified teacher at Vörösmarty Mihály Primary School of Bonyhád from 1985 to 1986.
He worked at Red School in Szeged from 1991 to 1993 and since 1993 he has been teaching at Petőfi Sándor Lutheran Secondary School in Bonyhád, a job he has retained as an Member of Parliament. From 1991 to 1993 he was secretary and since 1998 he has been president of the National Alliance of Székelys in Bukovina.
Potápi entered into politics in 1993. He joined the party itself in 1997.
Since then he has been the head of the Bonyhád branch of the party. He has been vice president of the Tolna County organization of the party since 1998.
After the transformation into a people"s party in 2003 he was appointed the chairmanship of the Bonyhád constituency.
In 1998 and in the national elections of 2002 he was elected Member of Parliament of his home town Bonyhádaughter In the middle of March he continued the work he started in the previous term in the Foreign Affairs Committee and until February 2003 he served on the Committee on Human Rights, Minorities and Religion. He secured a seat in Parliament in the 2006 national election from Bonyhádaughter
He became the Chairman of the Committee of National Cohesion on January 1, 2011.
As a mayor of Bonyhád and head of local government section of the Tolna branch of Fidesz he has a knowledge of local governments. He headed the campaign of the Bonyhád branch of Fidesz in the general election in 1994.
He has been president of the Association of Danubian Europe and of Bibliocaritas Foundation since 1999, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Illyés Foundation. On 20 October he was elected a local representative and the mayor of Bonyhád as well as a member of the Tolna County Assembly. He was elected member of the Foreign Affairs and Hungarian Minorities Abroad Committee on May 30, 2006.
