Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read announces 2024 bid for secretary of state

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read announced his run for secretary of state in 2024, aiming to bring accountability to the office after Shemia Fagan's resignation.

Read was elected as treasurer in 2016 and was among the Democratic candidates for the governorship in 2022.

Read won his first legislative race in 2006 and worked in the Oregon House of Representatives for a decade -- serving as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development and the House Committee on Higher Education, Innovation, and Workforce Development. He was also a member of the House Revenue Committee along with the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

“The office of Secretary of State is very important to Oregonians and it’s critical that we restore accountability in that office. As Secretary of State, I will rebuild trust and give voters confidence that their public officials work for the people -- and no one else. I’ve built a reputation for competently and professionally managing the State Treasurer’s office. I’m looking forward to talking to voters in the coming weeks, and will have something more formal to announce in September," Read said in a statement.

Read's stated goal of bringing accountability to the office echos a statement from the current Secretary of State Lavonne Griffin-Valade, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Tina Kotek after Shemia Fagan resigned in May over ethical concerns surrounding her paid consulting contract with La Mota cannabis company.

Read, who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Boise, Idaho, got his first taste of living in Oregon when he attended Willamette University in Salem. There he joined campaigns and staff for local lawmakers.

In 1999, he moved to Washington D.C., where he worked in the U.S. Treasury Department as executive assistant to Sheryl Sandberg, who at the time was chief of staff for then-Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers.

Read returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2001 to earn an MBA at the University of Washington. He says the degree helped him understand how to marry the interests of private enterprise and government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.