In the 2010 election, Middleton withdrew her candidacy to accept a position in San Francisco, CA as president of Emerge America,[4] and was succeeded in office by Rhonda Fields.
There, she co-created and co-chaired the political science graduate student association and served on the campus-wide steering committee for the Auraria Women’s Network.
She spent 10 years pursuing a doctoral degree, was ABD (all but dissertation), but ultimately took a second master's and ended her graduate career.
[7] She was also hired as manager of program consulting at eCollege in 2000, and quickly promoted to director of the Center for Internet Technology in Education.
[10] From 2003 to 2004, Middleton was vice president for enrollment at Up with People, managing global recruitment and instigating partnerships with the University of Colorado at Denver, as well as communications and marketing for the WorldSmart Leadership Program.
[12] She also taught political science part-time at Community College of Aurora, and completed a second master's degree, in higher education policy, from the University of Denver, in 2007.
[7] She lost the race to represent Colorado's 7th Congressional district to Republican Patricia Hayes, earning 49% of the popular vote.
[13] In November 2004, following the resignation of Colorado State Board of Education member Christine Baca, a Democratic Party vacancy committee appointed Middleton to the board's 7th district seat[14] She was elected to serve for the final two years of the unexpired term in November 2006,[15] defeating Republican Lee Kunz[16] with 55 percent of the popular vote.
[18] While on the board, she also cast votes against the use of quotas as a means of fostering diversity in charter schools,[19] advocated for the creation of a state online education coordinator,[20] and proposed a motion to allow state funding for "fifth year" high school programs designed to help students earn associate's degrees.
[23] Following the resignation of Rep. Michael Garcia in February 2008,[24] v Middleton announced her intention to seek a Democratic Party vacancy committee's nomination for the open seat,[25] and was quickly viewed as the leading contender for the appointment.
[1] Middleton stood for a full term in November 2008; she faced opposition from Libertarian Jim Frye[29] and Republican George Carouthers.
[47] She planned on sponsoring legislation to create a state investment fund to support services for people with developmental disabilities, a move prompted by the failure of a statewide ballot measure to raise sales taxes to fund the same services;[48][49] however, Middleton later announced that she would not pursue the measure because of poor state revenue projections.
[50] In August 2010, Middleton withdrew from her campaign for reelection to accept a position in San Francisco, CA leading Emerge America, an organization whose mission is to recruit and train female Democratic political candidates.
In January 2013, Middleton considered challenging Andrew Romanoff for the Democratic nomination for Colorado's 6th congressional district,[51] but ultimately demurred.