He probably has a better track record than Trump so I don't see a problem with it
Another way to look at it is.... In the primaries he'd be a moderate.
Looking back at Obama & Biden when they were running they were posing as moderates, and they won.
They weren't the crazy leftists who want to trans the kids, men in women's sports, to raise taxes beyond what people could afford, or the dozens of others of pro-communist social-degradation policies.
Kamala tried running away from her leftist record, and lost badly.
Newsom has been trying to moderate this year with having agreeable conversations with right-wingers on his podcast, and he's been failing. He won't be able to escape his record.
AOC? Forgetaboutit. Zero chance of her attempting to go moderate. She's leftistism personified. Yet another reason why I doubt she runs. Doubtful she's even get the nomination, even more doubtful she beats JD Vance.
Steven A Smith (SAS?) would automatically be the reasonable moderate with a much higher chance of getting the support of mainstream Democrats support in the primaries.
BTW... It might blow most Democrat's minds to realize this, which is why most will deny it... But Trump in 2015 & 2016 ran as a moderate-republican. He never claimed to be conservative or libertarian, he rejected those labels and his polls soared even amongst conservatives & libertarians.
As of now, Newsom has a 90% chance of winning the nomination. If SAS gets in, is prepared, does dozens of interviews every week, works on his stump-speech for rallies, and is prepared for combative debates... That 90% chance for Newsom will lower dramatically throughout 2027 and into 2028 throughout the primaries.
I'm not predicting it.
I won't quote these posts saying 'I was right' like I predicted at the beginning of 2024 Biden wouldn't be on the ballot in November... But I can see the potential for it happening.