Welcome to the Rotunda

Aloha friends – welcome to The Rotunda, the Independent’s space for information about local politics and campaigns.

This page is named for the open air entrance to the State Capitol, the site of many political rallies and demonstrations. The building, completed in 1969, “was designed with extensive amounts of open space, both inside and out, to convey a sense of open government,” according to the state’s website. The rotunda is where people of Hawaii have gathered for decades to have their voices heard by the men and women working upstairs. We hope to help to bridge that gap by providing coverage of the inside of Hawaii politics, and by examining the interests that govern our community.

What you’ll find here:

- Regular coverage of the goings-on of the campaigns, drawing upon official campaign communications, insider accounts, and citizen and professional journalists.

- Topic pages for each of the major political races.

- Twitter feeds of incumbent elected officials, candidates for elected office, and their advocates and critics.

And in a few weeks, we’ll launch “Political Intelligence,” an open-source database of Hawaii politics.