Born in
Cairo, New York, Porter completed preparatory studies. He was graduated from the law university at
Albany, New York, in 1853. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in
Ashland, New York. He entered the
Union Army in 1861 as a member of the
1st Regiment New York Mounted Rifles. He settled in
Norfolk, Virginia during the war. He served as city attorney for one year, and as Commonwealth attorney from 1863–1867. He moved to the state capital, Richmond, in 1867. He served as member of the
Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868. Upon the readmission of Virginia to the US, Porter was elected as a
Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses, serving from January 26, 1870, to March 3, 1873. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1872. He engaged in the practice of law in New York City and Beacon, New York. He died in Cairo, New York, July 9, 1897. He was interred in Cairo Cemetery. ==Electoral history==