CLEVELAND – While some delegates return to the Republican National Convention every four years, for some, including Michigan State Rep. Ed McBroom, the experience is brand new.

McBroom is representing the Upper Peninsula in at the convention in Cleveland alongside Escanaba resident Judi Schwalbach. While Schwalbach is a frequent attendee of the convention, McBroom is still learning the ropes.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been at a convention, so it’s kind of a learning experience yet. Whereas for Judi a lot of this stuff is old hat for her, and I’m busy studying the order of everything to make sure I’m in the right place at the right time,” said McBroom Tuesday afternoon.

While the Michigan Delegation at the convention typically stays together, McBroom and Schwalbach have different roles to play during the convention itself. Schwalbach served as a member of the rules committee in the week prior to the convention and served as a delegate pledged to John Kasich, and McBroom voted on the convention floor as a delegate pledged to Donald Trump.

“When delegates were chosen and I said I’d like to go to convention, there was only one spot for our congressional district left and that was for Mr. Trump,” said McBroom. “He won our district overwhelmingly – both the 108th and the Upper Peninsula – so I felt comfortable representing the will of the voters, Republican voters, across the U.P.”

McBroom’s support of Trump put him in a different position than Schwalbach. Regardless of what else happened during the convention, McBroom was ensured a chance to vote on the party’s nomination, while Schwalbach was not given a chance to vote.

According to the convention rules, only candidates that win a certain number of states during the primaries have their names appear on the ballot. Only Trump and rival Ted Cruz made the cut to appear on the ballot, and because pledged delegates are only allowed to vote for the candidates they have agreed to support Schwalbach was not be able to vote in the first round.

Had neither candidate whose name was on the ballot received the 1,257 votes needed to secure the nomination, a revote would have been held. In that case all delegates, regardless of the pledged status would have been able to vote for the candidate they felt was best to represent the party in the coming election. Trump secured the nomination by receiving 1,725 delegate votes Tuesday evening in a single roll call vote of states, leaving delegates like Schwalbach without a chance to cast their vote. Who would represent the party and potentially lead the country for the next four to eight years was not the only decision delegates have faced during the convention. Monday night, the delegates approved the party’s platform, which outlines the Republican stance on a wide variety of issues including taxes, education, religious liberty, the definition of marriage, and the size and form of government.

“I thought the platform was good. It’s a very good conservative platform. It talks a lot about local control and you know getting the federal government out of the business of dictating to our states and to our local units of government and our schools can do,” said McBroom.

However, McBroom did not agree with every aspect of the platform. He believed that the party’s stance in support of schools of choice – which allow K-12 students to attend schools in areas districts they do not reside in – may do more harm than good, particularly in rural areas.

“You know, there’s things in the platform that aren’t quite my cup of tea, but in general I think it’s a really good platform,” he said.

Actively participating in the convention has meant that McBroom has heard a number of speeches from party members – including the highly controversial speech by Donald Trump’s wife Melania. The speech given Monday night included multiple lines that appeared to have been taken directly from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

McBroom said he had not seen any of the documentation that compared the two speeches, but did say many of the convention’s speakers relied heavily on prewritten speeches and notes.