<p>jm:</p>
<p>From what I have read, you are almost entirely correct. If a Congressman or Senator names a candidate as a primary nominee, that candidate is guaranteed an appointment as long as they were triple qualified. So in this case, they could have a lower ranking than other candidates but would receive the appointment because of that primary nominee designation. I have read, though, that this doesn’t happen that often. The majority of Congressman and Senators just nominate 10 candidates for each spot and let the Academy pick from these ten nominees.</p>