NY is very populous so it's 'competitive' to get a Senator's nomination. For MOCs not all districts are competitive. Many districts in Manhattan, Westchester, Brooklyn and the Bronx get fewer applicants than nominations available (our district in Manhattan had 3 applications for USNA, 2 for USMA and 1 for USMMA last year when 10 noms for each were available). DS did get a nom from Sen and Rep so he was from a 'not competitive' district but was still 'competitive' state wide. Also note that 'competitive' states like Maryland and Virginia also have disproportionately large representation among the brigade. Maryland and Virginia were third and fourth most represented in the brigade according to a recent article and New York wasn't in the top 5 despite being the 3rd most populous state. So, in my opinion, 'it depends' and you can't generalize across the entire State.