Minneapolis' congressman, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, will debate his Republican opponent Chris Fields at the State Fair today.

It is the first time that Ellison and Fields will go head-to-head in a debate. Fields, a Marine Corps veteran, lives on 3rd Street North in the Warehouse District.

Ellison, running for his fourth term, lives on Bryant Ave. in North Minneapolis.

The debate will be held at the Minnesota Public Radio booth at noon and will be broadcast live on 91.1 FM.

Fields faces steep odds winning over Minneapolis, arguably the most liberal city in Minnesota. Ellison won the district with 67 percent of the vote in 2010. That was after his opponent, Joel Demos, cut a funny TV ad that went semi-viral.

Before the primary, Fields had raised about $113,000 for his campaign with $51,000 left in the bank. Ellison, by comparison, had raised about $1.4 million with 126,000 left in the bank.

Fields has an upper hand over his predecessor in the money race, however. Demos had only reported about $22,000 raised in his pre-primary filings in 2010.