Candace Payne has lived in Montana for over 70years. Her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are all buried in various Montana cemeteries. She has two adult children and five grandchildren currently living in Montana. She graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1970. After several years of life experience living in northeastern Montana, she went back to school as a single parent of two children, graduating from Eastern Montana College in 1989. After completing her law degree at the University of Montana School of Law in 1992, Candace and her teenage son moved to Helena. She married Lewistown native, Dave Payne in 1998.
Candace began working as a private entity lobbyist during the 1993 Montana Legislative Session and started her career as a private practice attorney the same year. She continued to practice law and work as a lobbyist until her "retirement" in 2018. When the voters of Lewis and Clark County determined that the office of County Commissioner was non-partisan, she decided to run for office, recognizing that her years of creative problem solving would be beneficial to the citizens of this county.