I have a dynamic picklist that I am displaying on the visualforce page.

Here is my visualforce code:
<apex:selectList value="{!SelectedNomination}" size="1" id="a">
   <apex:selectOptions value="{!contactlist}">
</apex:selectOptions> </apex:selectList>

Here is my apex code:
public List<SelectOption> contactlist
    {
                
        get
        
          {
          
          
            String state = application.Congressional_State_Territory__c.substring(0,2);
            Nominators = [Select Id, Name, Class_Year__c, Contact_Name__c, Nominator_Code__c, Nominator_Type__c from Nominator__c WHERE FirstTwoLetters__c =: state and Nominator_Type__c= 'Congressional - House' and Class_Year__c =: application.Class_Year__c and Status__c =:'Active' ORDER BY Name ASC ];
           
            
            contactlist = new List<SelectOption>();
             
            for(Nominator__c nom : Nominators)
            
            {
                
                contactlist.add(new SelectOption(nom.Id, nom.Name + ' ' + nom.Contact_Name__c));
                
            }
           
            return contactlist;
            
          }
          
        set {}
        
        
    } 



Here is my Test class:
List<Nominator__c> nomList = new List<Nominator__c>();
    
    Nominator__c nominator = new Nominator__c();
    
    nominator.Name= 'Florida District 2';
    nominator.Class_Year__c= '2023';
    nominator.Contact_Name__c= 'ABCD';
    nominator.Nominator_Code__c= 'GA02';
    nominator.Nominator_Type__c= 'Congressional - House';
    
    nomList.add(nominator);
    
    nominator = new Nominator__c();
    nominator.Name= 'Georgia District 9';
    nominator.Class_Year__c= '2023';
    nominator.Contact_Name__c= 'xyz';
    nominator.Nominator_Code__c= 'GA09';
    nominator.Nominator_Type__c= 'Congressional - House';
    
    nomList.add(nominator);
    
    system.runas(ownerUser){
      
     insert nomList;
    }


   system.runAs(u){
      usafa_PCQPage3Controller controllerClass = new usafa_PCQPage3Controller();
      List<SelectOption> options=controllerClass.contactlist;
      System.assertEquals(options.size(), 2);

}

}
 
When I run the test, I get the following error it fails and gives me the following error on this line

List<SelectOption> options=controllerClass.contactlist;

System.NullPointerException: Attempt to de-reference a null object