Stephanie Everett, a Mattapan-based attorney, has officially entered the contest to replace Rep. Daniel Cullinane in the 12th Suffolk House district.

Everett sought the 12th Suffolk seat in 2013, a special election race won by Cullinane, who announced in January that he will not seek re-election.

Everett, who has been weighing a candidacy, told Ward 17 Democrats that she’d decided to run on Saturday during a virtual ward committee meeting held via Zoom.

“I wanted you all to be the first to know that I’m going to be running for the 12th Suffolk District seat. I thought it would be best to say it to all of you before I let everyone else know,” said Everett. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with people who are here today. It’s going to be a lot of work but after looking at the field that we have and I wanted to make sure the seat is properly represented.”

Everett has State House experience, she noted, having worked as deputy chief of staff to state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and chief of staff at the Dept. of Transitional Assistance (DTA.)

“It’s not going to be easy, and I hope to earn all of your support as I go forward,” she said. “Leadership is going to need to all work together to make sure that our districts come out of the COVID-19 situation in the best way that we can.”

Everett will likely be one of several candidates. Cameron Charbonnier, Brandy Fluker-Oakley and Jovan Lacet have all indicated that they will likely be candidates.

Nomination papers for the House seat— and other state seats— must be submitted by April 28. Candidates for seats in the House of Representative must get 150 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The primary election to pick party nominees is Sept. 1, with the general election scheduled for Nov. 3, the same day as the presidential election.