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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As the DNC publicly debates the future of its presidential primary cycle, Republicans settle into the status quo, leading with the Iowa Caucuses.
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Iowa has long been the first state to nominate Democrats to the White House, but President Biden wants to change that. He has proposed elevating South Carolina to the first spot.
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Iowa's caucuses are the first nominating contest in presidential politics. The red state is fighting to keep its place as the Democratic National Committee prioritizes diverse and competitive states.
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Many Iowans cannot remember a time when Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley did not represent them in Washington. But as he seeks an eighth term, he faces his toughest race yet.
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The carbon capture pipelines have been proposed through five Midwest states, but activists say proponents' claims of helping the ethanol industry and curbing climate change are wrong.
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On Feb. 3, 2020, an app meant to streamline the process for Iowa Democrats' presidential contest failed. That added to longstanding criticisms of the caucuses and Iowa's place on the calendar.
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The largest water utility in Iowa is sounding alarms that it won't be able to keep up with cleaning the water for more than 600,000 customers as extreme weather swings become more common.
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The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox are playing the first Major League Baseball game in Iowa on Thursday — in the small town of Dyersville, where the 1989 movie Field of Dreams was shot.
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The trial started Monday for the Des Moines Register reporter, Andrea Sahouri, who was arrested while covering a protest after George Floyd's death even though she identified herself as media.
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Iowa's governor is ordering K-12 schools offer students 100% in-person learning. But Iowa doesn't have a mask mandate, all teachers and staff aren't vaccinated and social distancing is a challenge.