Tobias Read

Tobias Read
Secretary of State-elect of Oregon
Assuming office January 2025
Governor	Tina Kotek
Succeeding	LaVonne Griffin-Valade
29th Treasurer of Oregon
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2017
Governor	Kate Brown Tina Kotek
Preceded by	Ted Wheeler
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 27th district
In office January 8, 2007 – January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Mark Hass
Succeeded by	Sheri Malstrom
Personal details
Born	(1975-07-01) July 1, 1975 (age 49) Missoula, Montana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Heidi Eggert
Children	2
Education	Willamette University (BA) University of Washington (MBA)
Signature

Tobias Read (born July 1, 1975) is an American politician who is the secretary of state-elect of Oregon. As a member of the Democratic Party he has been serving as the Oregon State Treasurer since 2017. He was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing the 27th district from 2007 to 2017, which comprises parts of Beaverton, southwest Portland, and unincorporated Multnomah and Washington Counties. He served as Speaker Pro Tempore and was formerly the Democratic Majority Whip.

In 2016, Read ran for Oregon State Treasurer, to succeed State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who was barred from running in 2016 by term limits. Read won the general election against Republican Jeff Gudman on November 8, 2016^[1] and became the state treasurer in January 2017. He was reelected in 2020 by a wider margin. He was a candidate for governor of Oregon in the 2022 election, losing to Tina Kotek in the Democratic primary.^[2]

Read was born in 1975 in Missoula, Montana. After attending high school in Idaho, he moved to Oregon where he graduated from Willamette University in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in politics and economics.^[3] In 2003, he earned an MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle.^[3] He and his wife, Heidi Eggert, have two children, Annika, and Ellis.^[4]

In 1997, he started working for Nike, Inc. in footwear development, where he remained until 2012.^[3] He also worked for the United States Department of the Treasury as an aide to then-Secretary Lawrence Summers from 1999 to 2001. His immediate supervisor was Sheryl Sandberg.^[5]

Read served in the Oregon State Legislature from 2007 to 2016 as the representative from the 27th district. As a legislator, Read was a strong advocate for fully funding Oregon's full-day kindergarten;^[6] supported state investments in green tech jobs and research through Oregon Inc and other initiatives;^[7][8] worked to stabilize state funding and enhance the state's Rainy Day funds;^[9] and sponsored legislation to redirect unclaimed funds from class action lawsuits to legal assistance for low income Oregonians;^[10][11] rather than back to the original corporate wrongdoers. Throughout his legislative career, he sought to expand savings in Oregon's college savings program, and sponsored legislation to create additional options for retirement savings for Oregonians.

During his time in the Oregon House, Read served as House Majority Whip, and in 2015 he was elected Speaker Pro Tempore. He served as chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development and the House Committee on Higher Education, Innovation, and Workforce Development. He also served on the House Revenue Committee and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, the committee of the Legislature primarily responsible for writing the state budget.

In 2016, Read ran for Oregon State Treasurer, to succeed Ted Wheeler, who was barred by term limits from running again in 2016. He was unopposed in the primary and won the general election by a plurality in November 2016, defeating Republican Jeff Gudman,^[1] and became the state treasurer in January 2017.

Following the 2019 death Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, Read was first in the line of succession for the office of Governor until the 2020 election of Shemia Fagan. As Oregon does not have a lieutenant governor position, the Secretary of State is normally the first to succeed the governor in the event of a vacancy. However, as Richardson's successor Bev Clarno was an appointee, she was ineligible to become governor, making Read first in the line of succession.^[12]

Read again became first in the gubernatorial line of succession after Fagan resigned on May 8, 2023.^[13] He will remain first in the line of succession until after the 2024 general election, in which he won the election to succeed appointed Secretary LaVonne Griffin-Valade.^[14]

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In 2015, in an effort led by Read and organizations such as SEIU and AARP, the Oregon Legislature enacted legislation which created the Oregon Retirement Savings Board and tasked it with establishing a state-run retirement savings program and managing its oversight. The retirement program created was called OregonSaves.^[15] In 2018, Finance industry publication Pensions & Investments and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) honored Read and OregonSaves with the Excellence & Innovation Award. The award recognizes public and private-sector efforts to enhance retirement security.^[16] In 2019 Read was invited to speak to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on the states innovative approach to retirement savings.^[17]

In 2017, Read voted to sell 82,500 acres of the Elliott State Forest to a Roseburg-based timber company for $221 million. Revenues from the sale would have been added to the state's education fund.^[18] Following pushback from environmentalist and other Oregon Democrats, Read withdrew his support for the proposal.^[19][20]

As Treasurer, Read oversees the Oregon College Savings Program (OCSP), which helps Oregonians save for education after high school.^[21]

Read worked with the Oregon State Legislature to pass the Education Savings Credit which changes the tax advantage from a deduction to a refundable credit.^[22] Begun in 2020, the Education Savings Credit makes it easier for low-to-moderate income families save for education after high school. Read worked with a diverse group of organizations including the Latina Network, Stand for Children, and the Oregon Student Association^[23] and legislators^[24] to pass the Education Savings Credit.

On September 27, 2021, Read officially announced that he was running for governor, but lost in the Democratic primary to Tina Kotek.^[25]

Read announced his intention to run for Secretary of State in July 2023 and officially launched his campaign on September 13.^[26] He faced state senator James Manning in the Democratic primary^[26] and won.^{[citation needed]}

In the general election, Read was elected with 54% of the vote.^[27]

Read lives in Beaverton, Oregon with his wife Heidi and their two children.^[28]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tobias Read.

• Treasurer Tobias Read government website
• Tobias Read for Secretary of State campaign website
• Oregon State House – Tobias Read legislative website (archived)

• Profile at Vote Smart