Born in
Waupun, Wisconsin, Panzer was educated at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, after which she was a banker and worked in the
Wisconsin State Legislature. In 1980, Panzer was elected to the
Wisconsin State Assembly in a
special election to replace fellow Republican
James R. Lewis (who had been convicted of
perjury). (She had almost defeated then-incumbent Lewis in the 1974 Republican
primary.) She served until 1993, when she was elected to the
Wisconsin State Senate in another special election. Panzer eventually rose to be the majority leader of the senate. In the Republican primary election in September 2004, Panzer was herself defeated for renomination by her successor in the state assembly,
Glenn Grothman, who alleged that she was not sufficiently
conservative for the modern-day Republican Party. Grothman won with a vote of 79% to 21% for Panzer. ==References==