MY BIOGRAPHY
Bob Eschliman
Bob Eschliman: A Christian Warrior, A Conservative Champion
Bob Eschliman is a Christian constitutional conservative, a service-connected disabled U.S.
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U.S. Navy veteran, a former newspaper reporter, editor, and publisher, and a homeschooling father who was born and raised in Iowa and has been a resident of Senate District 19 for more than a decade.
Born in Boone in 1973, he grew up in a family where politics on both ends of the spectrum was a common conversation topic. Coming of age during a time when Ronald Reagan was president, and with a lot of influence from his paternal grandfather, his personal political views quickly slanted to the right.
" A Christian Warrior, A Conservative Champion"
In the midst of the Farm Crisis, his father took a job in Waterloo, which meant moving away from his hometown. Settling in Traer three quarters of the way through his junior year of high school, Bob then attended North Tama High School – where he graduated near the top of his class while participating in vocal music, drama, mock trial, and athletics.
It was during his senior year that he was introduced to Rush Limbaugh – not personally, but when his high school government teacher turned on WHO-AM – and his red-pill experience was complete. As a student of history, he dug deeper and discovered Silent Cal – President Calvin Coolidge – who became his political north star.
In the final weeks of his senior year, Bob was encouraged to participate in the Colgate Foundation’s Citizen Bee competition. As the only representative of the school, he competed in a regional competition at the University of Northern Iowa, taking first place. He finished tenth at the televised state competition at the Iowa PBS studios in Johnston. This also resulted in his being awarded the American Legion School Award.
Also while completing his senior year of high school, Bob participated in the U.S. Navy’s Delayed Entry Program, following in his maternal grandfather’s footsteps. When he finally enlisted, at Naval Training Center Orlando, he was Company Yeoman in boot camp and completed Nuclear Field “A” School as class honorman in physics.
He also served in the NTC Orlando Transition and Relocation Office, curating the Navy’s first pre-Internet Welcome Aboard Package Library, which featured literature on every military installation in the world. He also served in the base’s Enlisted Service Records Vault and as a patient intake coordinator and executive assistant (yeoman) to the director of the Counseling And Assistance Center.
After his honorable discharge, Bob returned to Iowa and worked as Operations Clerk for the City of Ames Public Works Department. Then, he took part in the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program and enrolled in Des Moines Area Community College at the Boone Campus.
While at DMACC, Bob was asked to consider running for Student Activities Board, a governance structure for overseeing the spending of student activity fees. Bringing his trademark conservatism and insistence upon transparency to the job, he was elected president by the other board members. As a result of his actions, a congress of all the SABs was convened and the governance structure was changed throughout the DMACC system to ensure greater fiscal responsibility and transparency.
His initial plan while attending DMACC was to get into computer network administration, but a chance work study opportunity with the campus newspaper led to a change in career path. That began a nearly continuous 22-year run in which he advanced from entry-level reporter to publisher and executive editor. He won nearly 70 awards along the way from the Iowa Newspaper Association and AP Managing Editors Association.
In 2014, a small blog posting intended for an audience of less than 20 people catapulted Bob into the national and international spotlight. He was fired for defending the Bible from those who sought to alter it and its meaning, particularly to teens and children, and he was branded a homophobe, a bigot, a racist – and pretty much every other vile name you can imagine – in one of the earliest cases of “cancellation” by the Left.
He was, quite literally, the canary in the coal mine for Cancel Culture.
But Bob forged ahead, helping to launch a statewide news platform focused on Iowa politics. A year later, he was hired to be the chief political correspondent for one of the most prominent Christian news magazines in America. In that role, he interviewed nearly every major Republican presidential candidate in the 2016 race.
He was also well aware that traditional media outlets were waning. So, he sought to make another career change. Since June of 2021, he has worked for Pella Corporation. He is now a quality technician in the Pella Operations site Accessories area, where he works with several different production lines while also handling all reorder and warranty claim investigations – the goal of which is to ensure customers receive exactly what they need.
Bob has lived in Pella for nearly 10 years with his wife of more than 20 years and their three children.
My Promise to You
What you see is what you get. I have aggressive ideas for improving the lives of all Iowans, but I’m humble enough to know I may not have the best ideas. My promise to you is that I will always be open to the best ideas for improving all our lives, but on matters of principle, I will be as unyielding as granite.
To my brothers and sisters in Christ, you need not worry if I will hide my light under a basket; I will always be a steadfast warrior for THE Truth. To Republicans, I will be your strongest advocate for conservatism. To my libertarian friends – with and without the big “L” – I will be your strongest advocate for freedom and liberty. And, to the many independent voters, I will be a tireless worker for making all our lives better.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Ephesians 6:10-13