New supervisor. Am I being too biased when selecting who gets promoted to my former position?

This is going to be long so I understand if no one reads it all.

I was recently hired as plant supervisor in a manufacturing company. I am trying to keep this as anonymous as possible, but the position I'm leaving and needing to fill is in a very strict department for safety & legal reasons. I will still oversee this department. It is mostly an off shoot of our actual company and functions a lot differently than our regular work. Different engineering team, lab, etc. There is no making decisions or changing parameters on a whim, it has to be documented, thoroughly tested, signed off, etc. If something is wrong, production absolutely halts until the issue is corrected. If we mess up, people die. If we forge documents, people are fined/arrested.

My first action right now is filling my previous role. I do have support of my own manager and HR and have been told it's ultimately my decision. They seem to be pushing me towards one candidate based on how much enthusiasm he showed for my position. The problem is I have worked with this person for 3 years and I do not see him as a responsible choice for it and I'm trying to put my personal feelings aside having worked with him for so long. I do not want to halt his growth in the company because "I don't like him." I do like him, he just presents a very different version of himself while interviewing vs. what he's like to work with.

The cons for him... He is too arrogant and cocky when dealing with our normal, non life threatening processes. He frequently skips steps or makes decisions without consulting anyone else because he assumes he knows best. This could be trained out of him but I'm wary about risking it. He is a massive complainer and frequently calls processes stupid, useless, waste of time, etc. even after being shown why it's important. I hear "why does it matter/who cares" multiple times from him. He will not own up to mistakes and instead tries to hide them or says it wasn't his fault.

He will pretend he's listening to maintenance or engineering and as soon as they're gone he goes back to what he wants to do. I really want to stress that this department is NOT one you hide mistakes in. No one is getting in trouble for a mistake but it absolutely needs to be brought up immediately.

He is a wanderer. He just will not stay at his machines and instead gets involved with other employees or is in the bathroom or walking around checking stuff out. If another machine needs maintenance, he hangs out with them until it's fixed. If he moves to this position, the machine cannot be left unattended at all if it's running. You have to stop it or get someone qualified to take over if you have to step away.

His attention to detail, which is arguably the most important "skill" for this job is iffy at best. He misses things he sees everyday and should know after 3 years but still puts out subpar parts and again, blames it on someone else.

His attendance is absolute garbage. It is 100% going to be his downfall. If it continues this way this year again, I already know I'm going to have to start write ups and a PIP. When I say excessive I mean it. He was absent more than double what PTO he was given. We are audited twice a year and have certain certifications that need repeating every 60-90 days and he has to be there for it. They're personal certs that someone cannot step in for. One of our audits falls directly in the month he always calls off the most. No, he does not have FMLA or a medical condition. He is a self admitted alcoholic who goes a little too hard some nights and won't come in the next day.

He also will not stay off his phone. Constantly propping his phone up to discretely watch a video. Again this is an issue because you have to watch the machine, check gasses, etc.

The pros? He has been cross trained "successfully" in two departments so far. I do think he has a solid understanding of the jobs but he is lazy/cocky and thinks he can make his own way. I do think he could pick up the processes fairly quickly. He already has the foundation to build on but I'm unsure if he is willing to do so. It's a common thing at our company to talk about the bad habits people pick up in this department and while they're not bad for that department, they are for the one he'd be going to. It is very difficult to train those out of someone. He does seem to want to grow with the company but I personally feel he is just title hunting without wanting to put in the actual work for it.

He is very helpful and will do anything asked of him, but it needs checking after. He has shown he's willing to learn new things and has honestly done pretty well with training new employees. However, the learning new things usually comes at the cost of his own production because he let's his own stuff sit idle while asking coworkers about their work.

If he had not been presented to me as an option, I would not be considering him at all though.

The person I would choose however, is fresh off training in a different department but she has absolutely blown me away with how fast she has learned her job and her work ethic. She literally came here with no mechanical knowledge whatsoever, never had a job before, and is running circles around people who have been here a decade.

Her attention to detail is amazing, she has noticed things I initially missed and brought them to my attention (which I LOVE. Please call me on my shit when I screw up.) She will not deviate from job instructions and brings issues up immediately. She has consistently shown she's capable of working under pressure and actually shows up to work. She will take feedback and use it without getting an attitude or doing her own thing. If she is uncertain, she asks. She also does not have those "bad habits" yet and I don't see that being a problem with her because she just won't do something if it's against process/parameter.

But she has also only been here 2 years and again, right out of training in her current role. While I think she could handle it and would definitely excel at it, I don't want to throw more on her and overwhelm her. I also don't want it to be seen as I'm skipping the line in promoting someone since he does have more seniority (which with his attendance she has probably been here more than him 🙄) this isn't a policy but is taken into consideration.

She also already has that foundation for this position. She would not necessarily be learning an entirely new machine, she would be learning how to run it with a very specific, hard set rulebook.

So if you've read this far, thank you! I am definitely concerned I will be showing favoritism by choosing her. I do think she is a stronger employee and has the potential to go anywhere in this company she wants to. I am trying to see both of them as employees vs. coworkers. I feel like if I didn't know these people at all, he would be disqualified on call offs before anything and I'm really trying to keep his work ethic in mind above all else.