The names I've seen are Newsom, Pritzker, Whitmer, Shapiro, and Beshears, but none really have a lot of traction. They're all carrying varying levels of political baggage that any half-competent GOP candidate could latch onto.
Gavin Newsom has run Cali to the ground and will never win Pennsylvania especially if the Amish vote.
Pritzker defunded police and is a major billionaire; 2020 proves Dem Primary voters hate billionaires.
Whitmer = Ron Desantis. Cannot stand well on national stage. Friendship with Kamala and working with Trump will absolutely be stains.
Josh Shapiro = JEWISH. Part of why Michigan was lost was the Muslim vote. Even if he had Whitmer on his ticket he'd still struggle.
Andy Beshear = Possible threat as a "Moderate Democrat" but would never make it through the primary. Doesn't have the memorability of people he'll be going up against. Doesn't have any major accomplishments to point to since his GOP legislature does most governing. And on a national stage, his blatant corruption with his father will be talked about.
You might say other people like Elizabeth Warren had corrupt pasts as lawyers just like Beshear, but Warren was chosen by Obama and his cohorts over Biden. She had protection. Beshear does not. Because Beshear won't do anything to revive the Obama legacy.
Biden is a nonfactor. But so long as Obama is still in the equation, he's the biggest factor internal to the primaries. Not because people like him, but because he has institutional sway and can set you up with rich donors like he did for Elizabeth Warren. And what Obama wants more than winning is
someone who will honor and elevate his legacy. Biden just carried forward Trump policies like Trump's Tax Plan, unchanged for four years straight. And Biden did not bring back the individual mandate, so Obamacare remains neutered.
Progressives can yap about how they will swing things but at the end of the day, the older NeoLib Boomer generation has different priorities. And as people keep forgetting -
Obama is a Baby Boomer. So he'll probably backstage endorse someone like Elizabeth Warren 2.0.