>

Again a voter that thinks a recommendation by a task force in a City represents the governor wasn’t gonna vote for the Democrat to begin with.
Newsome will wait for 2028.
Whitmer and Pritzker are sleepers. 
Pete, Kamala, and Beto won’t last past the first few primaries. They just aren’t that popular. Of those, Pete has the best chance. Ideally, he needs to move to a solid blue state and become a House member, Governor, or Senator to first. His resume still isn’t there, and he will need a massive one to overcome homophobia in America. 
Dark horse - Sherrod Brown. He won’t run, but he’s actually a perfect candidate to beat a DeSantis. I think he’d win the whole thing if he ran, but if he won, OH loses a senate seat to the GOP. I’ve also never gotten the feeling that he wants to be President. 
Mark Kelly is an outside option, but I have yet to feel any vibes coming from DNC circles about him being the guy.
Beshear of Kentucky is probably more of a 2028-2032 option. 
There’s always a good chance that someone comes out of nowhere. No one outside of political circles saw Obama coming, and god knows no one saw Trump coming. 
If Biden sits it out, I’m sure Bernie will toss in his hat to make sure the convo stays on progressive topics. >

I'm curious as to why you think Newsom would wait until '28. He's term limited as governor, so he would leave public office and the public eye in 2026. He could attempt to land a cabinet position in early 2027, but he'd almost immediately abandon it to campaign.
He's currently well versed in the main economic issues that matter to Americans (housing and healthcare especially). The Dem slate is not strong enough to push him out, even if Biden wants to run again, and the GOP is in the middle of a fracture that could make the 2026 election a shoe-in for the Dem nominee.
Now is his time. >

He also has a clear contrast in executive policy from DeSantis and the economic success to tout his as the superior approach. California, despite having some of the most restrictive Covid protocols, has had a stronger economic recovery post-pandemic than anywhere else. He’s also not a far left progressive so he doesn’t alienate the fence-sitters. I’d think he’s the strongest non-Biden option out of the theoretical choices. >


He’s also not a far left progressive so he doesn’t alienate the fence-sitters.

That might be true but a fair amount of people hate California because well.... A lot of batshit crazy ideas have come from California politics, more to the point, I think the California assocation would hurt him as a whole. >

The ones that believe that weren’t going to vote for a Democrat anyway. >

Not necessarily. When you see headlines like 5m in reparations each to everyone who can prove their ancestors were slaves... That doesn't help.