Dianne Gallagher is a CNN National Correspondent based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

She currently reports on the vulnerabilities in elections systems across the country, with special focus on election security and integrity leading up the 2020 presidential race in November.

Gallagher spent much of 2019 covering special and off-year elections in states across the US. She spearheaded CNN’s coverage of election fraud in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District, which led to a hearing that overturned the results and a tight re-do election that was a political priority for both parties for months. She spent time in the Bahamas, reporting on the devastating aftermath of the deadly Hurricane Dorian.

Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl., Gallagher lived in Florida for a month, embedding with the students and reporting live from a bus as they caravanned from Parkland to the state capital for the “March for our Lives” demonstration. She regularly reports on the battle over gun legislation, both at the state and federal level.

She was also one of the few reporters in 2018 to gain access to government detention facilities where families were held after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and she spent weeks helping families track down their loved ones after being apprehended during historic ICE raids of chicken processing plants in Mississippi in the summer of 2019.

Gallagher has also reported on multiple national disasters, including Hurricanes Florence and Michael of 2018, and CNN’s Emmy-nominated hurricane coverage of 2017.

Previous to her time in Atlanta, Gallagher worked as a National Security Correspondent based in Washington, D.C. where she reported on investigations into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, the fight against ISIS and other defense strategies. In 2016, Gallagher spent most of the year on the campaign trail, and was reporting live when Donald Trump was declared the winner of the historic election.

Other historic reporting incudes, the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, police-involved shootings and the protests that followed and the funerals of both boxing legend Muhammad Ali and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Prior to joining CNN, Gallagher worked for WCNC in Charlotte, NC where she was a lead reporter and morning anchor. While at WCNC, she received several awards for her work on security issues in Charlotte, as well as the FBI investigation into and subsequent arrest of the city’s mayor. While covering the state General Assembly, she reported on controversial legislation on Voter ID, abortion, gerrymandering, same sex marriage and government power. Working in a battleground state, and the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, she spent much of 2012 covering the presidential election.

She began her career as an anchor and reporter at CN2 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The daughter of a U.S. Army General, Gallagher spent her childhood moving from country to country and speaks six languages, including Arabic, German, Italian and Spanish.

Gallagher graduated from the University of North Carolina Charlotte and the University of Tennessee. You can find her on twitter: @DianneG