State Sen. Alan Nunnelee, who national Republicans believe will give them a solid chance of ousting Rep. Travis Childers (D) next year, formally filed his candidacy papers Monday, WTVA-TV in Tupelo reported.

Nunnelee, the 50-year-old chairman of the Appropriations Committee, has been a state Senator since 1995.

Although Childers won the seat in a special election last year, the northern Mississippi 1st district is quite conservative — it gave Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 62 percent of the vote during the 2008 White House election — and Republicans made it clear Monday that they plan to hang President Barack Obama around Childers’ neck.

“The Obama-Childers stimulus’ plan has created massive deficits with no jobs to show for it. … With a record like that, Childers shouldn’t be surprised to find a formidable GOP challenger on his hands,— said Andy Seré, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Despite the NRCC’s preference, it is not clear whether Nunnelee will have the GOP primary field to himself.