2025 Reflections from Organizer, John Calabrese

2025 has been an epic whirlwind. It seems at once to have flown by and lasted for far longer than 12 months. 

All in Favor began with a busy January, much like we’re preparing for next month. Nomination papers for local office were turned in, candidates set, and key races engaged with. After February and March campaigning, 5 of our 8 endorsed candidates won their races and joined the 6 who won in 2024 to continue to move the priorities of GROWW campaigns and the organization as a whole through our local governing bodies. 

The fruits of our work were most visible this year in Dunn County.  After the Spring election the Menomonie City council included All in Favor endorsed candidates Sydney Brennan and Matthew Crowe; and veteran GROWW leader Cody Gentz. The wheels of possibility began turning; especially around the issue of housing pushed by the GROWW Housing Justice team who joined All in Favor to help get Sydney Brennan elected. 

Using the inspiration and example of what happened in the Brennan campaign, a campaign that drew people in who saw what concrete change could be made possible with a win, All in Favor embarked on a summer listening campaign. We held public listening sessions in Dunn, St. Croix, Pierce and Polk counties to hear what local issues were keeping our people up at night and how those could be remedied through our local governments. All in Favor leaders held a series of house meetings in the same four counties to start to drill down on key issues that new candidates for local office could run to address. 

As December comes to a close, the newest version of the All in Favor Endorsement Committee has held its initial preparation meeting and is ready to review potential endorsements of the largest slate of potential endorsees yet. More than 20 candidates are on our radar in key mayoral, city council, county board and school board races. The sprint from January through April 7th is shaping up to be a powerful one, and we’ll need you to join in on the races most important to you. 

Back in Menomonie the inspirational GROWW members of the city council now make up the majority of an ad-hoc housing committee. The package of renter protection ordinances put forth by the GROWW Housing Justice team that could drastically improve the lives of scores of renters in the city of Menomonie, passed unanimously through that committee and is set for a full council vote next month.  

This is what’s possible when we build power one conversation at a time.