[2] Porter is a native of Fort Lewis, Washington, located near Olympia, where his parents resided while his father was in the United States Army.

He and his wife, the former Cheryl Jenkins, a dietitian, resided in Midland for more than twenty-five years prior to their relocation to Giddings, where in 2004 they had purchased rural property.

A political conservative, Porter was affiliated with William F. Buckley Jr.'s Young Americans for Freedom and the College Republicans while attending Harding.

He is a member of the interest groups Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, the Texas Land & Mineral Owners Association, the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Carrillo was seeking his second full term on the commission, having originally been appointed by then Governor Rick Perry to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Tony Garza of Brownsville, who became the United States Ambassador to Mexico.

When he joined the commission in 2011, Porter created a task force to establish a dialogue regarding drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale fields of South Texas.