Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn next week will appear on the campaign trail to boost Democratic activist Norman Solomon, the candidate for California’s open 2nd district announced Wednesday.

Event details will be released in the coming days, but Solomon told Roll Call that Penn will join him in Marin and Sonoma counties for at least one public event and a fundraiser. Solomon traveled with Penn, who used to live in the area, to Baghdad in December 2002 to encourage alternatives to war.

Marin and Sonoma are the most populated counties in the newly drawn district, which runs from the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge up the coast to the Oregon border. The district became open when Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D), who represents the current 6th district, announced she would not run for re-election.

Several other Democrats also are running in the strongly Democratic district, including Assemblyman Jared Huffman, Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams and Petaluma City Councilwoman Tiffany Renee.

Solomon is serving his third consecutive term as a member of the California Democratic Party’s state central committee and was an elected delegate for President Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.