The idea the California map is a "soft Dem" map is bizarre. Only two districts (Hunter's and McCarthy's) went for Romney with over 60% of the vote, and none went for Trump with over 60% of the vote. There was no packing of California GOP seats the way North Carolina Democrats were packed in 2016. Sure, the commission could have stretched the GOP more thinly, but that would just mean more Clinton-GOP seats would have been Clinton-Dem seats in 2016, and the vast majority of current GOP-held seats, even if won by Romney, would be Dem seats in 2018. California is just a very urban, very expensive, very Hispanic, very Democratic state.
You have zero clue how gerrymandering works.
