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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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.” -
The Detroit Regional Chamber endorsed Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in his run for governor as an Independent candidate in 2026. Why so early in the race? Plus, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is asking a judge to shield documents seized in a raid on its offices from an investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel. -
An open U.S. Senate seat, legislative inaction and the Whitmer/Trump relationship: The It’s Just Politics team takes stock of the first six months of 2025 with a look at the top three Michigan politics stories of the year so far. -
As legal and political drama unfolds surrounding the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, questions remain about who will be held accountable for mishandling of taxpayer dollars and whether Michigan’s business incentives program will face changes moving forward. -
It wasn’t just a state budget that the legislature didn’t get done before leaving the Capitol last week, there still isn’t a deal on road funding. What happens next? Plus, a month to go before Detroit’s mayoral primary.
