BREAKING NEWS Spokeswoman: Republican Rep. Nunnelee of Mississippi Dies

Nunnelee

BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — A spokeswoman says U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee of Mississippi, a fiscal and social conservative elected to Congress in a Republican wave of 2010, has died. He was 56.

Elizabeth Parks, the spokeswoman in Nunnelee’s congressional office, said he died Friday in his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi.

In June 2014, Nunnelee had a stroke while surgeons were removing a brain tumor. In December, Nunnelee was hospitalized in Tupelo for treatment of a bleeding problem in his left leg. He was too ill to go to Washington in early January to be sworn in for his third two-year term. House leaders let him take his oath from a federal judge in Mississippi.

In 2010, Nunnelee unseated Democrat Travis Childers, who had held north Mississippi’s 1st District seat since mid-2008.

// Below is Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant’s statement regarding Nunnelee’s passing

“Alan Nunnelee has been like a brother to me and was one of my dearest friends and companions,” Bryant said. “I will miss him greatly. Deborah and I are praying for Tori and their children. He was the best man I’ve ever known.”

STATEMENT OF TUPELO MAYOR JASON SHELTON

“It is with very heavy hearts that we, as a city, send our condolences to the family of Congressman Alan Nunnelee. Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with Congressman Nunnelee, his family, friends and all those who knew and loved him. He was a true statesman who fought fiercely for the principles in which he believed. He was a warrior for his home district in the aftermath of the April 28th tornado and for that, the City of Tupelo will be forever grateful. He was taken from this world far too soon and will be honored, remembered and missed. May the Peace of the Lord be with his family as they endure this tremendous loss.”