Connie earned her bachelors degree from Portland State College in 1967 and worked as a child protective caseworker from 1968 to 1975 and as a member of the Longview Police Department’s people’s assistance team until retiring in 1994. She has previously served on the Rainier City Council, Planning Commission, Parks Advisory Board and as chair of the library board. In addition, she has served on the Columbia County Commissioner’s Transit Advisory Board, as the chair of its Cultural Trust Commission and on the Columbia 911 Special District Board. Budge was the chair of the Cowlitz County Emergency Support Shelter Board, Substance Abuse Coalition, AIDS Task Force and the establishing Head Start Board. She’s currently on the city’s budget committee and the Columbia County Area Agency on Aging.

Budge wants to live out her life in Rainier. She would like the city to become an even healthier, safer, cleaner, more beautiful and welcoming community.