In 2006, Midura was elected to the City Council for District A, defeating incumbent Jay Batt. During her tenure, she served as Chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee, the Utilities Committee, and the Special Committee on Mental Health. She also served on the Competitive Selection, Criminal Justice, Education, Election Code and Reapportionment, Public Works, Sanitation and Environmental Enforcement, Special Disaster and Recovery, and Women's Committees. In 2009, she announced that she would not seek relection in 2010. She was succeeded in the District A seat by Councilmember Susan Guidry.

Shelley Stephenson Midura was born in New Orleans and grew up in the Lakeview section of the city. She graduated from Isidore Newman School in 1984 and received a Bachelor's Degree in 1988 from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. After graduation, she joined the U.S. Foreign Service and worked in Washington D.C. and abroad for the next 10 years. After her return to New Orleans, she assisted in the founding of the International School of Louisiana (ISL), the first foreign language-based charter school in the state.