Adrienne Pierce selected as National's Palmerston North candidate

Adrienne Pierce will be National's candidate for Palmerston North.

National has selected a Hastings councillor, businesswoman and former nurse as its Palmerston North candidate.

Adrienne Pierce will go up against current Palmerston North and Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway in September's election.

She has been a Hastings councillor since 2013, being re-elected in 2016.

In December she told the Hawkes Bay Today she was considering a bid to be National's Tukituki candidate after MP Craig Foss' decision to leave politics. However, Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule was selected.

Pierce unsuccessfully ran against Yule in the Hastings District Council mayoralty race last year, finishing last in a field of three.

National won the Palmerston North party vote in 2014, but its candidate Jono Naylor lost to Lees-Galloway by 2212 votes. Naylor, a list-based MP, is retiring from politics after one term.

Pierce is the founder and director of Smart Business Network, a business that outsources booking for small businesses, and lists her interests as spending time with family, reading, cycling and travelling.

Pierce said Palmerston North was benefiting from sustained economic growth under the National-led Government, which was also investing heavily in the Defence Force and keeping jobs in the region.

National has just two selections to go - Dunedin South and Kelston.

Last night Andrew Falloon, an associate director at the New Zealand Bankers Association, was announced as National's Rangitata candidate.

Falloon was selected after MP Jo Goodhew confirmed her retirement in January, following her demotion from ministerial roles in a reshuffle in December. He is very likely to become an MP after September's election, with Goodhew recording a 14,107-vote majority at the last election.