Newsom would make a bad President and a terrible candidate. He's a classic corrupt corporate Democrat patsy[1] who holds power in a one-party state. Furthermore, that one-party state is California, which fact alone is enough to turn off a sizeable chunk of the national electorate. His very visibly corrupt French Laundry escapade would be replayed endlessly and undoubtedly to great effect. Finally, and most importantly, his insulation from the national political mood and current and heretofore political imperative to appeal to the California electorate leaves him woefully unprepared to effectively contest a national election. DeSantis or Youngkin would crush him like a bug.

Like Kamala Harris, he would make more sense as a VP nominee (although he would similarly be a bad choice overall). His politics and California provenance would be an albatross around any Presidential candidate's neck, but access to the lucrative California establishment Democrat donor network might outweigh the electoral deadweight.

[1]: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-31/question...

> Kinney is well known around the state Capitol as a strategist, ghostwriter of Newsom’s speeches and unofficial fixer summoned to help loosen the governor from political jams. His dual roles as an advisor to Newsom and a lobbyist paid by companies to influence the governor and his staff have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest for the administration.