Living in California, I will correct both your errors:
1) California has been using a Non-Partisan Committee to determine districts since 2010 per our local Proposition process, voted on by the people of California. Between the Committee and court rulings, there has been little gerrymandering in California. Does gerrymandering happen on both side, yes, but by using the committee in California and the use of open primaries, we've attempted to minimize partisanship.
2) California has a significantly higher proportion of urban districts than rural districts, so naturally, the state tends towards Democrats and liberal point of view. To take that even further, I live in Orange County, which is an urban district that has consistently voted Republican/conservative/libertarian, and the Democrats won the majority of the county districts this year for the presidential election.