Working for a Better Future for Iowa

Reach out to Bob: bob@bob4iowa.com

MY BIOGRAPHY

Christian Warrior, Conservative Champion

Bob Eschliman is a Christian constitutional conservative, a service-connected disabled 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.

Know More About Bob

Born in Boone in 1973, Bob grew up in a family where politics on both ends of the spectrum was a common conversation topic. One side of his family was deeply connected with Democratic Party politics, and the other was deeply connected with Republican Party politics.
Imagine for just a moment: a city council meeting in which one grandfather – a Democrat city councilman – was grilling the other – the Republican city engineer – over the costs of a street improvement project under consideration. That was just a day ending the letter “Y” for Bob.
Like a lot of Iowans, the Farm Crisis hit his family hard. They didn’t farm, but the financial downturn limited the work available for the family business. As a result, his father took another job in Waterloo. And, on Easter Sunday of his junior year of high school – immediately after church – the family relocated to Traer, where he would eventually graduate from North Tama County High School.

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 honor man 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, but the nuclear engineering program he expected to find at Iowa State University was disbanded. So, he leaned into his experience as a yeoman and worked as Operations Clerk for the City of Ames Public Works Department. Meanwhile, he applied repeatedly for the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program until he was finally accepted and enrolled in Des Moines Area Community College’s 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 soon 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.

Why Bob's Running for the Senate

I know most of you who have read and support the Republican Party of Iowa
Platform. That’s the list of “wants” the

grassroots demand legislators take seriously. Republicans all
across Iowa work countless hours to ensure that document represents the
grassroots positions.

Like most of you, I know our Republicans in Des Moines are not taking the RPI Platform seriously. I got tired of legislators looking at it as a list of suggestions. Who better than the grassroots to see troubling situations – outside the “bubble” in Des Moines – as they arise? I think it’s high time the base gets put first, not big-dollar donors.

I have made the RPI Constitution (click here for PDF), Bylaws (click here for PDF), and 2024 Platform (click here for PDF) available for your immediate reference.

I believe our state is at a crossroads. Iowa has extraordinary potential – our land, our communities, our work ethic, and most importantly, our people – but all too often, government stands in the way of that potential instead of clearing the path for it.

God has blessed me with a full life – one that has taken me
from the Navy’s nuclear power program to newsrooms
all across the state to the factory floor at Pella Corporation. Through it all,
one thing has remained constant: my belief that ordinary Iowans deserve a
government that respects their rights, protects their freedoms, and gets out of
their way so they can build a better life.

I’m running because Iowa can do better. I’m not going to
blow a bunch of smoke here. Last year, our state ranked 48th in population
growth and 34th in state and local tax burden. The average Iowan paid more than
$7,500 in taxes – money that should have gone toward groceries, medicine,
childcare, and savings.

We can’t grow as a state if we’re taxing our people into
stagnation. That’s why I’ve put forward a bold, forward‑thinking plan
to rethink how Iowa funds government—so that over
time, we can eliminate taxes altogether and replace them with a modern, 21st‑century
revenue system that works for everyone.

But taxes are just one part of the challenge. Iowans deserve
leaders who will protect life, defend property rights, and stand firm for
freedom. I’ve drafted legislation to safeguard the unborn, to raise the bar on
eminent domain so no one loses their land for someone else’s profit, and to
ensure that government never again oversteps the way it did during COVID—when
businesses were labeled “essential” or “non‑essential,” and even
churches were told to close their doors.

I believe in checks and balances, not unchecked executive
power. I believe in paper ballots, transparent elections, and the simple
principle that “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. I believe
parents – not overpaid bureaucrats – should be in charge of their children’s
education and health decisions.

I believe our libraries should be places of learning and
virtue, not places where sexually explicit material is made available to kids.
This past year, the General Assembly had opportunities to address every single
one of these issues, but they punted – because it’s an election year.

I also believe Iowa must reclaim its leadership in
innovation. With my background in the Navy’s nuclear program, I know firsthand
what safe, clean, modern nuclear energy can do. That’s why I’ve proposed re‑establishing
a nuclear engineering program at Iowa State University and partnering with next‑generation
reactor developers—so our state can lead again in an
industry we helped pioneer.

I want to circle back to those kitchen table economic issues
families feel every day: the rising cost of groceries, medicine, and health
insurance. We can’t fix everything at the state level, but we can do a lot more
than we’re doing now.

We can cut unnecessary regulations, demand transparency from
insurers and pharmacies, promote direct‑to‑consumer agriculture, and crack
down on anti‑competitive practices that drive up prices. These are
real solutions that don’t cost taxpayers a dime.

I’m also committed to tackling Iowa’s rising cancer
rates—the second‑highest in the nation. We’re also the only state that
saw the cancer rates increase. There are answers, and news flash for my
Democrat friends: they don’t hold a monopoly on solutions.

It won’t be easy, but ignoring the problem
won’t make it go away. That means addressing
environmental factors, supporting farmers with better tools and better markets,
and promoting healthier communities.

This campaign isn’t about me – it’s not even about us – it’s
about our children, our children’s children, and their grandchildren. It’s
about building a future where Iowa families thrive, where government respects
its limits, and where freedom is not just a slogan but a lived reality.

If you believe, like me, that Iowa can do better – if you
believe we can build a stronger, freer, more prosperous state – then I am asking
for your support. Join this team. Stand with me. And together, let’s make Iowa
the envy of the 50 states.

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