By Sara Beth Williams–
After becoming the first Black female elected official in the city in 2018, Citrus Heights Vice Mayor Porsche Middleton said she felt the pressure and spent her first year as a City Council member feeling “timid and reserved.”
As she grew in knowledge through her experience, Middleton said she began to realize she was elected to her position as a councilmember in the same way as all her colleagues.
“It was empowering as a woman of color to say, ‘I’m going to use my voice, I’m going to stand up for what I believe is right, and I’m going to advocate,’” Middleton said in a Feb. 6 interview with The Sentinel.
After serving on the Citrus Heights Planning Commission in 2017, Middleton was elected as a Citrus Heights councilmember in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 to represent District 5. She has served as vice mayor in 2021 and mayor in 2022, cementing her in history as the first Black female elected official to serve as mayor in Citrus Heights.
Middleton said when she visited high school campuses while she was mayor, many kids were surprised that the city’s mayor was Black and would compare her to Michelle Obama.
“I’m no Michelle Obama,” she said with a laugh, adding that even still, her position “opened their minds and eyes to see what government can be.”
“Anybody can be a mayor,” she emphasized.
Middleton displayed a passion for community involvement from an early age. Her father, a retired Army sergeant major, encouraged her and her siblings to become involved in their communities in meaningful ways, no matter what community they landed in during her father’s days of active duty.
Middleton said later on, her academic background in psychology and engineering played a significant role in shaping her character and informing her approach to public service.
“I love working in the community and solving problems; I loved being involved and getting feedback and figuring out how you turn that problem into a solution,” she said, referencing her college years where she took part in engineering work-study programs.
Middleton said participating in those work-study grant programs with fellow colleagues allowed her to improve effective communication techniques and complex problem-solving skills, particularly in emotional or stressful situations with peers.
“It came easy to me; I have eight brothers and am the middle of nine siblings. I’ve always been the negotiator,” Middleton said.
Today, now married with two kids, Middleton and her husband are always looking for ways to give back to the community and the youth specifically, such as donating free haircuts and prom dresses for students throughout the year. Her husband is currently an advisor to the Mesa Verde Key Club, a youth-oriented volunteer club through Kiwanis where students serve on their campus and throughout the city.
“I try to work with youth to understand that what you believe in is important, and you should stand up for it,” Middleton said, adding that it opens up conversations to talk about differences and discuss finding similarities between those who are different, which can lead to solving problems.
The theme of standing up for her convictions and advocating for those in need is woven throughout Middleton’s community-oriented mindset, rooted in the legacy of historical figures such as Rosa Parks. Middleton said Parks’ ability to say, “enough is enough” and stand up for what she believed to be true was “an incredible strength.”
Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. The incident helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is known as a pivotal moment in the modern civil rights movement.
For Black History Month, Middleton said she says she focuses on self-reflection and the little things. She says at home, she and her family discuss Black history, and cook a lot of soul food, such as cornbread and collard greens.
Middleton emphasized that, for her family, their focus is on remembering how much they have accomplished in their lives.
“The small things in your own family are really important to highlight,” she said.
Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government in 1976 when President Gerald Ford issued the first federal proclamation. It expanded from the week-long celebration established in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Congress later officially designated February 1986 as National Black History Month.
The first instance of a proclamation made by the Citrus Heights City Council recognizing the month of February as Black History Month was during the February 10, 2022, City Council meeting.
Middleton’s City Council term expires at the end of 2026 and she plans to run for reelection. Middleton ran against as a Democrat against Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover in 2024 for State Assembly for District 7 but lost with a vote of 46.4 precent to Hoover’s 53.6 percent.
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