30 Facts About Tobias Read

Tobias Read was born on July 1,1975 and is an American politician who is currently serving as the 30th Oregon Secretary of State since 2025.

Tobias Read 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.

Tobias Read won the general election against Republican Jeff Gudman on November 8,2016 and became the state treasurer in January 2017.

Tobias Read was reelected in 2020 by a wider margin.

Tobias Read was a candidate for governor of Oregon in the 2022 election, losing to Tina Kotek in the Democratic primary.

In 2023, Tobias Read announced his candidacy for Secretary of State after an ethics violation led to the resignation of Shemia Fagan.

In 2003, Tobias Read earned an MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle.

From 1999 to 2001, Tobias Read worked for the United States Department of the Treasury as an aide to then-Secretary Lawrence Summers.

Tobias Read then returned to Oregon after graduate school, working for startup SkyTaxi for several months before finding work at Nike as a footwear developer, where he worked from 2004 to 2012.

Tobias Read served in the Oregon State Legislature from 2007 to 2016 as the representative from the 27th district.

Tobias Read served as chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development and the House Committee on Higher Education, Innovation, and Workforce Development.

Tobias Read 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, Tobias Read ran for Oregon State Treasurer, to succeed Ted Wheeler, who was barred by term limits from running again in 2016.

Tobias Read was unopposed in the primary and won the general election by a plurality in November 2016, defeating Republican Jeff Gudman, and became the state treasurer in January 2017.

Tobias Read ran for and won re-election as State Treasurer in 2020, facing Republican Jeff Gudman again in a rematch.

Later, Tobias Read again became first in the gubernatorial line of succession after Secretary of State Fagan resigned on May 8,2023.

Tobias Read remained first in the line of succession when Governor Kotek appointed Secretary LaVonne Griffin-Valade.

In 2019 Tobias Read was invited to speak to the US Senate Finance Committee on the states innovative approach to retirement savings.

In 2017, Tobias Read voted to sell 82,500 acres of the Elliott State Forest to a Roseburg-based timber company for $221 million.

Later in his tenure as State Treasurer, Tobias Read unveiled a proposal for the Elliott State Research Forest, an innovative solution to keep the forest in public hands and combat climate change.

Tobias 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.

Tobias Read worked with a diverse group of organizations including the Latina Network, Stand for Children, and the Oregon Student Association and legislators to pass the Education Savings Credit.

Early in 2024, Tobias Read announced his plan to move OPERF, Oregon's $100 billion pension plan, to carbon neutral by 2050.

On September 27,2021, Tobias Read officially announced that he was running for governor.

Tobias Read announced his intention to run for Secretary of State in July 2023 and officially launched his campaign on September 13.

Tobias Read ran a campaign centered around rebuilding trust and integrity in the Secretary of State's office, which had faced years of turmoil and changing leadership.

Tobias Read removed a compromised state audit from the books which previous Secretary of State Shemia Fagan had issued while taking a lucrative consulting check from the audit's subject.

Tobias Read has devoted much of his free time to giving back to his community, including volunteering with Start Making a Reader Today, coaching youth sports, and serving as a founding board member of Hoopla, Oregon's largest three-on-three charity basketball tournament.

Tobias Read is an avid basketball fan and has made several appearances on sports journalist John Canzano's podcast The Bald Faced Truth.