Clay Masters
Clay Masters is Iowa Public Radio’s Morning Edition host and lead political reporter. He was part of a team of member station political reporters who covered the 2016 presidential race for NPR. He also covers environmental issues.
Clay joined the Iowa Public Radio newsroom as a statehouse correspondent in 2012 and started hosting Morning Edition in 2014. Clay is an award-winning multi-media journalist whose radio stories have been heard on various NPR and American Public Media programs.
He was one of the founding reporters of Harvest Public Media, the regional journalism consortium covering agriculture and food production in the Midwest. He was based in Lincoln, Nebraska where he worked for Nebraska’s statewide public radio and television network.
He’s also an occasional music contributor to NPR’s arts desk.
Clay’s favorite NPR program is All Things Considered.
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The trailer in a human smuggling case in Texas that left 10 people dead belonged to a small-town trucking company in Iowa. The incident has helped raised awareness among truckers.
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Distrust in the media has become a oft-cited trope in the cable news cycle. But one staple of American journalism seems to have avoided the "fake news" characterization — small-town newspapers. -
About 180,000 state and local government workers would be prohibited from negotiating over issues such as health insurance and extra pay. The bill is high on the state GOP's legislative agenda. -
In North Dakota, a lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow motorists to run over and kill any protester obstructing a highway as long as the driver did not do it intentionally.
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Donald Trump chose Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as ambassador to Beijing because of old ties with President Xi Jinping and Iowa's history of trade with China. Branstad will have a tough job. -
At Iowa freshman Sen. Joni Ernst's motorcycle ride and barbecue fundraiser, Trump didn't attend the ride but addressed participants, in a much-needed bid to draw support from influential GOP leaders. -
Hillary Clinton's campaign is relying on a network of youthful organizers to turn out millennial voters in order to win Iowa, a state Barack Obama carried twice.
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Most Iowa Republicans are strong backers of Donald Trump and an Asian free trade deal that Trump opposes.
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Ankeny, Iowa is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country and an example of a growing urban/rural divide. The presidential campaigns are shifting focus in this critical swing state.
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A new challenger plans to put Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's opposition to holding Supreme Court nomination hearings at the center of her campaign.
