"But given that so much of California's population growth over the last decade has occurred in the south and along the coast, it is inevitable that some distant rural areas will have to be married with Sacramento's suburbs."
That part of the editorial is absolutely wrong. The population growth was eastward in to the Inland Empire and Central Valley. There was almost no north to south shift.
It is possible to take some of Sacramento and put it with the most liberal parts of Fresno in order to create a heavy Dem district. You can then take the rest of the area and put it with some parts of the Bay Area. That would yield a result favorable for Republicans because it would create to very liberal districts instead of 2 lean Dem districts, thus shoring up GOP seats.
