Laura Belin, Spencer Dirks
147 episodes listed below
Iowa politics, carefully read.
KHOI's Capitol Week tracks Iowa government with a reporterly eye for filings, votes, polls, court rulings, and campaign money. It suits listeners who want the practical meaning behind statehouse process and 2026 race movement.
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KHOI's Capitol Week is a weekly Iowa politics briefing with a strong sense of place and process. It treats the statehouse, the campaign trail, and Iowa's federal delegation as connected parts of the same political system. The show is not built around hot takes. It works by accumulation. A poll memo is described with its sponsor, timing, and limits. A candidate filing story becomes a close read of signatures, county thresholds, objection panels, and how a campaign can miss the ballot. A court ruling on a school book ban is placed beside legislative action and the practical choices facing state officials. Recent episodes have followed Republican and Democratic races for governor, the U.S. Senate contest, U.S. House campaigns, property tax reform, health insurance taxes, Medicaid, food assistance, abortion policy, education bills, and state budget questions. National stories appear when Iowa has a direct angle. Supreme Court rulings, tariffs, war powers, Iran strikes, and the deaths of Iowa soldiers are discussed through the reactions and responsibilities of Iowa officials. The show also pays attention to political infrastructure: outside spending, GOTV, direct mail, polling, fundraising reports, and campaign messaging. Its pace is steady. Short setups lead into longer explanations that make room for caveats, records, and institutional memory. That makes the show useful for listeners who follow Iowa closely but do not spend every day reading filings, committee calendars, and campaign statements. It is local public-affairs radio with a reporting backbone: careful, specific, and more interested in what can be known than in making every development sound dramatic.
Made for: For Iowa voters, political watchers, journalists, advocates, and campaign observers who want state-level context without cable-news heat. It especially suits listeners tracking the 2026 legislative session and election cycle.
What sets it apart: The show stands out for turning procedural details into political meaning. Ballot access rules, legislative funnels, public records, and ad reservations are treated as central evidence, not background noise.
Laura Belin, author of the blog Bleeding Heartland, updates you on developments in Iowa government, hosted by KHOI’s newsman Dennis Hart. An in-depth look at each week’s legislative actions, the governor, public agencies, and important events, as lawmakers act on matters that affect you and your family.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed questioning and institutional memory make Iowa's legislative process, campaign maneuvering, and official explanations easier to follow.
KHOI's Capitol Week turns Iowa politics into a working map of bills, campaigns, public agencies, and the decisions surrounding them. Spencer Dirks keeps the conversation moving with direct questions, while Laura Bellin supplies context, checks political claims, and distinguishes…
That state plane claim sounds different once Laura Bellin recalls the purchase records you never thought to request.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady look at Iowa's 2026 races, with polling context and statehouse strategy in plain view.
The episode opens on a recently surfaced Iowa poll and uses it to widen into a clear statehouse briefing, tying together the governor's race, the Senate race, and property-tax reform without drifting off course.
A calm Iowa-first briefing tying war powers, campaign filings, and statehouse fights together.
The piece stays firmly on Iowa politics, moving from congressional war-powers votes to the report that two Iowans were among the first U.S. soldiers killed in the conflict, then into the governor's race and legislative fights over property taxes, crime, civil rights, and teacher…
A steady Iowa politics piece linking Iran news, state-plane questions, and Ashley Hinson's Senate campaign.
This Iowa politics piece keeps its footing by moving from the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran into the immediate reaction from some of Iowa's congressional delegation, then into Governor Kim Reynolds' use of a state-owned plane and the questions surrounding Ashley Hinson's…
A clear read on Iowa's legislative rush, with the tariff ruling in the background.
KHOI Community Radio's Capital Week stays locked on Iowa politics, starting with reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's Friday tariff ruling and then moving into the post-funnel scramble at the statehouse.
A calm Iowa politics briefing that treats turnout, district fit, and timing as the real story.
KHOI's Capital Week spends the hour on Iowa political interpretation: the first TV ad in Iowa's U.S. Senate race, takeaways from special elections, new laws that have just taken effect, and what may follow when the next Iowa legislative session convenes.
Astead Herndon reports the 2024 campaign trail, from Iowa evangelicals to America's non-voters
Capital Week opens on a new Iowa poll.
This episode covers Iowa political news including significant campaign spending in a Senate race, poll numbers for candidates, and court rulings enabling a school book ban.
This episode covers Iowa political news, including a Republican gubernatorial primary challenge to Eddie Andrews' ballot qualification and updates on No Kings rallies and 2026 campaigns.
This episode covers Iowa political news including a Democratic primary ballot challenge for Xavier Kerrigan in the 3rd Congressional District, a proposed health insurance tax hike, and legislative updates after the second funnel deadline.
This episode covers Iowa's political landscape after the candidate filing deadline, focusing on a gubernatorial candidate who failed to qualify due to signature requirements, along with legislative updates on health care issues.
Capitol Week opens with Iowa's connection to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Capitol Week opens with Iran, not the Iowa Statehouse.
The show opens on Iowa reaction to the Supreme Court's tariff ruling.
This episode analyzes the aftermath of Democrat Nathan Sage dropping out of the 2026 U.S.
Spencer Dirks and Laura Bellin open a new year of *Capital Week* with a look ahead to a busy Iowa political calendar.
This episode analyzes recent Iowa political developments, including Randy Feenstra's absence from a GOP candidate forum, a TV ad targeting Rob Sand, and upcoming special legislative elections.
This episode of KHOI's Capital Week covers Iowa political news, focusing on State Auditor Rob Sand's announcement to run for governor in 2026 and his campaign strategy emphasizing bipartisanship and small-town revitalization.
This episode covers Iowa political news including Democrat Sarah Trone-Garriott's announcement to run for Congress in Iowa's 3rd District against Republican incumbent Zach Nunn, along with updates on the Iowa Legislature session and other state political developments.