Leigh Waldman is moving up at CNN after her days at KSAT 12 San Antonio.
The network announced on September 23, 2026, that Waldman has been promoted to CNN Correspondent. Beginning October 12, she will be based in Los Angeles and report across CNN platforms as part of the network’s domestic news coverage.
Waldman previously served as a New York-based correspondent for CNN Newsource, reporting stories for CNN’s more than 1,000 affiliate partners nationwide.
Since joining CNN, Waldman has covered major national stories, including the deadly Fourth of July flooding in Central Texas, the impact of hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, school shootings, and the historic launch and return of astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner.
Waldman shared the news on Instagram, writing:
“Trading the NYC skyline for the Hollywood hills. So thrilled to start working alongside my incredible colleagues in Los Angeles. There’s no place like CNN, I’m honored beyond words to keep working with these amazing journalists.”
Her promotion marks another step in a career that has included stops in Texas and Nebraska.
Before joining CNN in 2024, Waldman was an investigative reporter at KSAT 12 in San Antonio. She joined the station in 2021 and was promoted to the KSAT Investigates team in 2023.
At KSAT, Waldman led investigative and enterprise reporting for the station’s 10 p.m. newscast and played a major role in the station’s team coverage of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde. That work earned an Emmy Award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, two Telly Awards and a Texas Broadcast News Award.
She also created and hosted “Texas Crime Stories,” a multiplatform true-crime podcast focused on high-impact cases across Texas.
Waldman announced in April 2024 that she was leaving KSAT. She later revealed her next move was to CNN Newsource in New York.
The CNN connection was particularly meaningful for Waldman, who previously interned at the network’s Atlanta headquarters. When she left CNN as an intern in 2016, she said she always hoped to return as a correspondent.
“When I left CNN in 2016 as an intern, I always said I would be back again as a correspondent for this incredible network,” Waldman wrote in 2024. “After years of hard work, dreams do come true. So thrilled to work alongside these incredible journalists.”
Before KSAT, Waldman was a weekend morning anchor at WOWT in Omaha, Nebraska.
She began her professional television career at KAVU 25 in Victoria, Texas, working as an anchor and producer.
Waldman graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
