Iowa journalist Laura Belin faces constant struggles covering state politics as officials shut her out. A Republican press aide blocked her from a January budget briefing, while Democrats now prefer internet influencers. Despite her two decades of investigative work, she finds herself bypassed by both parties in a competitive state.

Laura Belin is an openly liberal journalist in Iowa who has long been shut out by state Republican officials. Now she's being bypassed by Democrats who favor friendly internet influencers.

The smirk stuck with Laura Belin, a left-leaning journalist who covers Iowa politics.

A press aide to Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, flashed it at her as he shut her out of a January budget briefing, just moments after welcoming in a scrum of other reporters.

"This is a private office," he said, closing the door in her face. Ms. Belin said he seemed "very happy" as he did so.

For two decades, Ms. Belin has been publishing investigative journalism and political analysis on her site, Bleeding Heartland, as well as a more recent Substack account, powered by records requests, inside sources, open meetings and public information. She also co-hosts a radio show on KHOI, based in Ames, Iowa. The Washington Post, The Des Moines Cityview, Politico, Esquire and Talking Points Memo have cited Ms. Belin's reporting.

Her beat is hot right now: Iowa is bursting with competitive elections, including the neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race between Representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican, and Josh Turek, a Democratic state representative.

A longtime Democrat, Ms. Belin is unabashedly liberal in her work. Her write-ups have the feel of something that MS NOW or HuffPost, two left-leaning national outlets, might publish.

She also donates to the Democratic politicians she covers -- something many traditional journalism outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, Politico and The Associated Press, strongly discourage or explicitly forbid. Fox News allows its journalists to donate to campaigns; MS NOW and The Huffington Post do not.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.