Zoe Clark
Political Director & It's Just Politics hostZoe Clark is Michigan Public's Political Director. In this role, Clark guides coverage of the state Capitol, elections, and policy debates. Her passion for understanding and explaining politics led Michigan Public to create the position in 2022 for the first time in station history.
Clark is also the host of It's Just Politics, a weekly look at Michigan politics, with Michigan Public Radio Network's Senior Capitol Correspondent Rick Pluta. Together, they co-author the It's Just Politics Newsletter.
Clark regularly appears on WKAR’s Off the Record, WDIV’s Flashpoint and offers political analysis on NPR, PBS, CNN, and the BBC.
Clark is an award-winning journalist, including the prestigious Peabody for overseeing the station’s first nationally distributed podcast Believed.
Clark previously was the station’s Program Director and is the founder and former Executive Producer of Stateside. She began at the station by producing Jack Lessenberry’s daily interviews and essays, and producing Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition.
Clark began her collegiate studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She holds degrees in Communication Studies and Political Science from the University of Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor, where she was born and raised.
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A proposal to delay paychecks for future governors and legislators if the state budget is not wrapped up by the July 1 legal deadline failed Thursday in the state House. Plus, Detroit Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan has a good week. -
A live, onstage conversation with Pete Buttigieg, former South Bend mayor, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and current Michigan resident. The former Democratic presidential candidate discusses the deep divisions in American society, the future of the Democratic Party, and the enormous - and not necessarily comprehensible - impact of artificial intelligence. Plus, his political future. -
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm shares her thoughts on the budget stalemate at the state Capitol, today’s political divisiveness, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s independent bid for governor. -
We are into week six of seemingly stalled budget negotiations in Lansing. Six weeks since K-12 schools, higher ed and some local governments started their fiscal years without knowing how much state money they’ll receive. Just what’s going on at the state Capitol? -
Republican Speaker of the House Matt Hall has an idea to move stalled budget negotiations forward in Lansing: leave the discussions to just him and Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Plus, Whitmer visits President Trump at the White House again and a Democratic candidate drops out of the Michigan U.S. Senate race. -
Detroit voters chose City Council President Mary Sheffield and Pastor Solomon Kinloch Jr. to move forward to November’s general election in the race to become the city’s next mayor. Plus, a majority of local Michigan officials think the state is on the wrong track. -
Complicating stalled budget negotiations in Lansing, new analysis shows the state will have $1.1 billion less heading into the new fiscal year because of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Plus, the campaign to tax Michigan’s wealthiest residents to pay more for schools moves forward with its petition campaign. -
Eye-raising fundraising numbers are released in Michigan’s 2026 race for governor. Plus, President Trump puts his thumb on Michigan’s political scale in the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate. -
The principal negotiators in the Republican led-House and the Democrat-controlled Senate all seem resigned to the fact that it’s going to take more time before there’s a budget deal in Lansing. Plus, President Trump endorses in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race and Jocelyn Benson and Mike Duggan announce huge fundraising totals. -
Three weeks since the July 1st statutory deadline and there is still no budget deal in Lansing. A Democrat and Republican lawmaker who are part of budget negotiations at the state Capitol describe where things stand: “the span between our budgets right now is about as big as the Mackinac Bridge.”
