Read won the general election against Republican Jeff Gudman on November 8, 2016[1] and became the state treasurer in January 2017.

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.

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.

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

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.