TUPELO – Congressman-elect Alan Nunnelee picked Hernando native Diane Hawks to head his transition team Thursday in a move designed to give him both local and national clout.

Hawks is a former White House deputy director for management under President George W. Bush and also served as the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s special teams deployment director. She also helped with the campaign, having organized Nunnelee’s bus tour across the 1st District.

With her on board, Nunnelee will have access to Hawks’ deep political connections both in Washington, D.C., and the north Mississippi district he’ll soon represent.

“I’m excited to have Diane leading our efforts as we put together a team to serve the citizens of the 1st Congressional District,” Nunnelee said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon. “I have known Diane since the first day I entered the Mississippi State Senate and respect her leadership abilities. Diane has a unique background and I have every confidence that she will be able to guide us through this very important transition.”

Nunnelee, who still is a state senator until he formally resigns that post, served in the Legislature with Hawks’ ex-husband, Bill Hawks, a former state senator and past U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Affairs.

Hawks will start assembling a new congressional office for the Republican. The work will include naming staff members, selecting the location of district offices and assuming responsibility of cases currently pending in the office of U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, D-Miss.

Childers has represented Mississippi’s 1st District since 2008 but will step down in January after having lost Tuesday’s election.

The transition team will work out of Nunnelee’s campaign headquarters near Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse in Tupelo.

Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.