Don't overthink it. If you're coming from Windows, go with Linux Mint. It’s the only one that doesn't feel like a constant battle against your own muscle memory. Once you're comfortable, you can jump into Fedora or Arch, but for the first month, you just want your computer to work without a terminal hunt.
As a long time user of Damn Small Linux, Slackware, SUSE, Gentoo, and Debian, I frequently test distros for security against various cybersecurity standards (starting with Common Core and CISecurity), I also implement Linux across CPU architectures for various embedded IoT:
Linux Mint is what I always put on for new family members.
Disclaimer: original investor of RedHat.
That’s a solid endorsement, especially coming from someone with your background in RedHat and the older distros. It seems we agree that for the 'non-tech' family members or those just transitioning, Mint is the bridge that actually stays standing. The stability for IoT you mentioned is a great point too—often overlooked in favor of more 'exciting' but fragile setups.