As Marin gets its first chance at a new represntative to the U.S. House in 20 years, it is to no one’s surprise leaning a little to the left.

Lynn Woolsey, Marin’s representation in Washington, D.C., is stepping down, providing an opportunity for  the public to get a look at two fresh faces for consideration.

The Democrats have held the seat since 1972, with Woolsey in it since 1992.  And while Marin’s old district — District 6 — has been combined with several other counties in the new District 2 that reaches up to the Oregon border, Marin voters will find that their new neighbors tend to vote in a fashion similar to that which they are used to.

Today, Democrat Jared Huffman and Republican Dan Roberts are facing off in a race for the District 2 seat.

Huffman is the heavy favorite in this election. Republican nominee Roberts is asking voters who tend to vote for the Democrats to look at the candidate’s views instead of just the party they are affiliated with.

While the two candidates disagree with many fiscal policies, Huffman and Roberts have said that they share the same social views. They are both for pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.

Huffman said that if he wins he will make higher education more affordable by increasing programs.

“If I win I am going to be a champion for making higher education more accessible and affordable to the next generation,” Huffman said. “That includes both supporting public universities to try to help keep tuition down, but also supporting policies like the Federal Student Loan Program.”

Huffman is also a supporter of President Barack Obama’s student loan program for college students.

“I’m going to support President Obama’s student loan reforms instead of repealing them,” Huffman said. “The student loan reforms that he has put in place make very low interest student loans more accessible.”

Roberts said that he believes that there is too much spending in education and to help the increasing problems in education, he would cut federal funding.

“The more money that you throw at it, the bureaucracy would be happy to absorb it,” Roberts said. “Not much gets to the classroom.”

Roberts said he believes his business experience will help him help reduce the deficit.

“My opponent has no experience running a small business, I’ve run a small business for 26 years,” Roberts said. “So it talks about creating budgets, meeting budgets, hiring, creating jobs, creating opportunities.”

Huffman has served as an assemblyman for Sacramento for the past six years, while Roberts has been a small business owner for over 25 years.

Roberts said he believes that Huffman has been unsuccessful as an assemblyman and doesn’t deserve a promotion to a congress seat.

“He is a failure. The Assembly is a failure. His measures are a failure,” Roberts said. “Sacramento is broken and he’s been up there six years to try and do something and fix it.”

This year, District 2 is the largest it has ever been. District 6 used to be only Marin and Southern Sonoma and has now joined with parts of District 1 and 2 including Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, the rest of Sonoma and Trinity.

Even though District 6 has joined with other districts, the percentage of Democrats and Republicans hasn’t changed that much. In 2008, the District with Marin in it were 53% Democrat and 22% Republican. Now that the District has expanded by about 135,000 voters, it is 50% Democart and 23% Republican, according to the California Department of State.

Woolsey’s retirement from the House is ending her 28-year public service career, which started in 1984 when she gained a seat on the Petaluma City Council.