After hearing pitches from about two-thirds of the field of Democratic hopefuls for the new 2nd Congressional District seat, members of the Windsor Democratic Club voted 7 to 3 Saturday not to endorse any one candidate.

"We have multiple qualified candidates," said former Healdsburg Mayor Jason Liles, a Democratic club member. "It seems better to let the voters decide."

Liles, who said he is personally backing Stacey Lawson of San Rafael, said the no-endorsement policy means that the Windsor club's two delegates will attend next weekend's Democratic pre-endorsement conference in Santa Rosa, but will notify the party leaders of Windsor's non-endorsement status.

Liles was one of about 25 club members who attended Saturday's congressional forum at the Windsor Round Table Pizza.

Democratic candidates who attended were:

--Lawson, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology and a strong proponent of jobs creation combined with a progressive stance on social issues.

--William Courtney of Mendocino County, a psychiatrist and proponent of medical uses of non-psychogenic dietary cannabis and a climate protection activist.

--Tiffany Renee of Petaluma, a Petaluma City Councilwoman and proponent of mortgage reform, foreclosure assistance and a public transit booster.

--Norman Solomon of Point Reyes Station in Marin, an anti-war, anti-nuclear, pro-environment "green" activist who says he is the only independent progressive Democratic candidate and the only one with foreign policy experience.

--North Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire of Healdsburg, who read a letter from candidate Jared Huffman, a state Assemblyman from San Rafael, who could not attend. Huffman stated in the letter that he was the only candidate who is an elected state Assemblyman. He said he stands on his record of success in passing legislation on a range of issues -- a list of which can be found on his website.

In addition to Huffman, not attending were candidates Susan Adams, a Marin County Supervisor, and green activist Andy Caffrey of Redway, Humboldt County.

Because of the redistricting that created the new 2nd Congressional District, Windsor (and by proxy Healdsburg) has actually risen in importance because it is the fourth largest city in the district behind San Rafael, Novato and Petaluma, Liles said.

"The candidates need to recognize Windsor as important," Liles said. "They need to get out to Windsor and introduce themselves."

The new 2nd Congressional District includes Marin County, portions of Sonoma County and the North Coast stretching to the Oregon border. 

It does not include either Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park, both of which are now part of the new 5th Congressional District under U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, who formerly represented Healdsburg and Windsor.

Aside from Thompson's former areas (like Healdsburg and Windsor), most of what is now the 2nd Congressional District was formerly the 6th Congressional District under U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who retired last year after serving 19 years in Congress.

With the redistricting, the 6th District was dissolved and mostly overtaken by the 2nd Congressional District -- leaving the seat wide open. Democrats have a roughly 60-to-40 percent voter registration advantage over Republicans in the district.

Windsors Democrats' next look-see of the 2nd District congressional candidates is tentatively set for a debate on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Sonoma County Office of Education in Santa Rosa.