Why a southerner? You aren't going to flip any Southern seats with them, they are solidly red, excluding Georgia, which you can win without that.
My bigger concern would be the rust belt, a large block of swing states that a West Coast candidate may not resonate with. All of those states are both in play, and at risk. The south only has 1 state in play and much less risk.
There kinda is one. Fedimatch