With the resignation of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan on Tuesday, the treasurer becomes next in line of succession if the governor's office became vacant prior to the next general election. Read, who cannot run for a third term in 2024 because of term limits, could also be named Secretary of State by Gov. Tina Kotek and run for the job in 2024. Kotek would then name an interim treasurer who would serve until January 2025

Two former governors have endorsed state Treasurer Tobias Read among the 17 Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for governor in the May 17 primary.

They are John Kitzhaber, a Democrat who was governor from 1995 to 2003, and again from 2011 to 2015, and Barbara Roberts, a Democrat who was governor from 1991 to 1995.

In statements released by Read’s campaign, each had a unique commentary (following below).

Kitzhaber, on Tuesday, March 22:

“What Oregon lacks today is a vision of where we want our state to be a decade from now, the steps it will take to get there and an honest conversation about the difficult choices involved with securing that future. Tobias Read has the courage and the integrity to lead us in that conversation and beyond the polarization and divisiveness that is shredding the fabric of our community.

“Bold, outcomes-based leadership, unfettered by the status quo, is what Oregon needs and what Tobias brings to this race. I am proud to support him.”

Roberts, on March 3:

“Oregon needs a governor with a statewide record of tackling tough issues, delivering results, and fighting for Oregonians living in every corner of this great state.

“Tobias has shown he can bring people together, and he will continue his work to build economic opportunity and a better future for all. That’s why I’m supporting Tobias. Oregon needs his proven and steady leadership.”

Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, who is barred by term limits from running again after serving almost two full terms, is not endorsing anyone. Neither is former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat who served from 2003 to 2011, although he said Wednesday he may do so in the future. Former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt withdrew from public life in 2004 after news disclosures that he had had sex with a teenage babysitter while mayor of Portland in the 1970s.

Read has been elected twice as state treasurer — he cannot seek a third consecutive term in 2024 — and was a state representative from Beaverton for 10 years beforehand.

He has raised less so far this year than his main rival for the nomination, former House Speaker Tina Kotek — about $337,000 to $608,000 — but Read has begun airing TV commercials. As of Wednesday, Read reported $761,000 cash on hand; Kotek about $1 million.

Though neither mentioned it in their endorsement statements, Kitzhaber and Roberts have had past issues with Kotek, who led that chamber for a record nine years.

In February 2015, Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney called on Kitzhaber to resign amid an ethics scandal primarily involving Cylvia Hayes, his fiancée. Kitzhaber finally did so just 38 days into his fourth term and was succeeded by Brown, who was next in line as secretary of state.

Roberts, the first woman to be Oregon’s governor, said last year that Kotek and Courtney had been the Legislature’s presiding officers for too long. She said their long tenures concentrated too much authority in a few hands.

Courtney, a Democrat from Salem, is retiring after a record 38 years in the Legislature and 20 years as Senate president. Kotek stepped out Jan. 22 as speaker and from her north/northeast Portland House seat, which she held for 15 years, to focus on her current campaign.

Although there is no official limit for presiding officers — who appoint the leaders and members of legislative committees, assign bills to them and otherwise control the flow of legislation — the informal limit was four years, until Jason Boe won a third term as Senate president in 1977. Boe did so despite opposition from a group of Democratic senators, including Frank Roberts of Portland, who was Barbara Roberts’ husband. Boe ended up being president eight years, until he lost a primary bid for state treasurer in 1980.

The only other recent Oregon legislators to break four years as presiding officers were Kitzhaber, who was Senate president from 1985 to 1993, and Vera Katz, who was House speaker from 1985 to 1991. Kitzhaber was elected governor in 1994, after he challenged Roberts’ re-election bid and she dropped out for family reasons. (Frank Roberts had died of cancer the previous year.) Katz, who lost the speakership when Republicans became the majority party but remained in her House seat, was elected in 1992 to the first of three terms as mayor of Portland.