Former mayor Lisa Middleton could make history as California’s first trans lawmaker

Lisa Middleton, the former mayor of Palm Springs, could become California’s first trans lawmaker if she wins a competitive race for the state Senate in November.

The 72-year-old is a longtime Palm Springs City Council member. Now she’s running to take the seat of incumbent state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R).

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In the state’s non-partisan primary in March, 52-year-old Ochoa Bogh won 54% of the vote and Middleton won 46%. In California’s primary system, the top two finishers — regardless of party — advance to the general election.

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Middleton is hopeful her newly redrawn district, with the addition of thousands of voters from Democratic strongholds like her hometown of Palm Springs, will make the difference, turning the longtime red district blue at the ballot box.

The former mayor says she’s focused on the nuts and bolts of governing, like addressing pedestrian safety, public transportation, college access and climate change. Her conservative Republican opponent has made identity politics key to her campaign, citing her Latina heritage and “family, faith and work ethic” as overlooked demographics.

Middleton has avoided dwelling on her own personal story and trans identity.

“I’m never going to back away from who I am, but what I’ve consistently tried to do is make it clear that it’s just a part of my identity — it’s not everything,” Middleton told the Los Angeles Times. “And it’s not why I ran for office.”

Still, Middleton called coming out as transgender “the hardest thing I ever, ever had to do” and said she’s been lucky to retain a successful career and a relationship with her children while others in her situation may not have received that acceptance.

“I fought that for a very, very long time,” she said. “Any of us who have ever spent any time in the closet know what it’s like trying to pretend to be something you’re not.”

Ochoa Bogh, a vocal Trump supporter, is a former teacher, real estate agent and a Yucaipa school board member who sits on the Senate Education and Housing committees. She has a voting history hostile to LGBTQ+ rights but says she has nothing against the LGBTQ+ community.

“We have a right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, whatever that may look like, as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s ability to do the same,” Ochoa Bogh said. “I would never do anything that would be disrespectful to anyone’s life or choices. We all have family members of that nature.”

Over four years in the legislature, Ochoa Bogh has opposed bills that provide gender-affirming healthcare services and shield transgender children and their families seeking treatment in California. She has abstained from votes affirming marriage equality in the state Constitution and declaring support for LGBTQ+ Pride month.

Ochoa Bogh made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor last year in opposition to a ban on outing trans students, calling it bad policy and defending a “default assumption” that “parents are acting in the best interests of their children.”

“The lies” that Ochoa Bogh is talking about, says Middleton, “and they are lies — are ones that I know fundamentally, because I have lived this life.”  

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