Madison has no shortage of choices in the upcoming City Council elections, with a total of ten candidates running for the office in two student districts.

Although Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, remains unchallenged, six candidates are vying for Ald. Todd Jarrell’s vacated spot in District 8 and three are competing for Ald. Tom Powell’s open District 5 seat. Jarrell is leaving after a two-year term on the Council, and Powell decided not to run again to pursue his doctorate in music composition at the University of Wisconsin.

All but three of the candidates are students at the University of Wisconsin, and six are political science majors.

The priorities of the District 8 candidates, the district which covers sections of downtown and the central campus area, encompassed affordable housing, transportation, student involvement in government, smoking legislation and binge drinking issues.

All of the candidates interviewed said they are against any drink special regulation in Madison, but they disagreed on whether binge drinking is a problem among UW students. Four District 8 candidates think drinking is a serious issue while two candidates said student drinking is not a problem.

Senior political science and history major Michael Hanson said there is no student drinking problem and efforts by the university and the city to push its authority over students only aggravate the issue.

Junior Nathan Naze, a computer science, political science and economics major, said student drinking is a problem without an absolute solution.

Senior Austin King, a Spanish major and med scholar, said the solution to binge drinking is an education campaign.

Junior Frank Harris, a political science and legal studies major, agreed that the city and the university should provide more logical arguments against drinking, but criticized candidates who heavily promote tenants’ rights, a staple in King’s program.

“Who’s not for tenant rights?” Harris said. “We need to work with landlords to efficiently help tenants.”

Candidate Jeff Erlanger, age 31, also criticized current seat holder Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8, for his work on tenant rights.

“He focuses on tenant rights because he doesn’t know what else to focus on,” Erlanger said. “There are already enough rules in place for tenants.”

Housing is a central issue for the candidates, but they have different solutions to curb the high demand for housing and lower rent.

Senior Matt Berry, a political science major, said the city should offer incentives for landlords to build affordable housing, a solution also supported by King, Naze and Hanson.

Berry also suggested raising the height limits of housing beyond a certain radius around the capitol, to allow higher-density housing to be built above the current maximum of 13 stories.

The candidates of District 5, a district based on the west side of campus, had different approaches to the housing crisis.

Robbie Webber, who Powell endorses as his successor, wants to develop more affordable housing and create programs so people who live without a car can get credit to purchase houses.

Jason Stephany, State Chair of the College Democrats, said the university should build more housing on campus at affordable prices, with a suite-style layout similar to off-campus housing.

Tim Corver was unavailable for comment.