Three main camps and their subgroups are trying to influence Newsom: Those advocating for a Black woman; those advocating for a Latino; and those advocating for a member of the LGBT community…

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, 46 — a business-friendly moderate — might be a likelier pick of a Black woman. Breed drew praise for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But her opposition to a referendum to raise taxes on big business to fund homeless services remained a source of distrust with the city’s outspoken left wing.

Newsom himself rose to political power as mayor of San Francisco and hails from the same Bay Area political machine as Breed. Picking her would signal a continuation of Bay Area Democrats’ uncontested dominance of state politics, rather than a nod to the state’s larger, more diverse and less wealthy population centers in the south. Newsom, both U.S. senators from California and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi all hail from the Bay Area.