State Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, has become the third state lawmaker to announce their candidacy to be Wyoming’s next secretary of state. 

A fifth-generation Wyoming native, Nethercott is a graduate of Riverton High School and the University of Wyoming. She made the announcement Tuesday in Riverton, according to a campaign news release that day. 

She currently lives in Cheyenne, where she has been a small business owner and is a practicing attorney. 

Elected to the Wyoming Senate in 2016, she chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and, for the last six years, has been on the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee that oversees state elections laws, her campaign noted. 

She also is a member of two select committees, one dealing with the blockchain and another on capital financing and investments, according to her official online legislative profile hosted by the Legislature. (The blockchain refers to the public ledger underlying digital currencies.) 

Nethercott also sponsored some bills in the past session of the Legislature. Senate File 53, “Local government liability pool amendments,” deals with limits on some claims brought against localities and their employees. The bill has become law. 

Nethercott declared her candidacy following current Secretary of State Ed Buchanan’s recent announcement that he will not seek reelection so that he can be considered for a district court judgeship in his hometown of Torrington. 

The first to announce his candidacy for secretary of state was current Senate President Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, followed by Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper. 

Buchanan’s change of plans, which came after he had announced he was running for reelection to his current position, took some political figures by surprise. Buchanan, in his current role, has noted that elections in the state were relatively free of any chicanery.