(Radio Iowa) – An Iowan at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee is not only a delegate, he’s a historian who has written a book about William Jennings Bryan and Hubert Humphrey — Democrats who run for president. Jeff Taylor, a political science professor at Dordt University in Sioux Center, was also a delegate at the G-O-P’s national convention in 2012. “Not only do I get new stories from this one, but the students are probably going to be able to relate to this experience a little more just because it’s happening right now,” Taylor said, with a laugh. “This fall and next year and the following year this is still going to be fresh in their mind.”

Taylor, who has a seat on the convention floor with the rest of the Iowa delegates, says he’s been observing the teleprompter on stage to see how closely speakers follow the script. “Some of the aspects of a highly disciplined, highly regulated, highly disciplined convention where the speakers are supposed to be staying on task,” Taylor says. “…I saw that in 2012 and it’s still the practice. The people who run the convention don’t want surprises, they don’t want any gaffes said from the podium. They want a united front and all that.” Taylor says that message has filtered down to Iowa delegates, too.

“We were encouraged to, especially in speaking to the media, to not to be negative, to not say things that would put our state in a poor light and while I appreciated that encouragement, I don’t think it would happen anyway,” Taylor says. “It seems like in terms of party unity, it’s there.” Taylor says that unity was illustrated when Trump entered the convention arena on Monday night and the crowd cheered, applauded and repeated Trump’s “fight, fight, fight” mantra. “It was the first time that most of us had seen him since the assassination attempt,” Taylor says. “That was an emotional moment, I think, for a lot of us as delegates.”

Taylor has been a state senator since 2021. He’s running for a second term this year and has no opposition on the General Election ballot.