In my opinion, all legislatures should be unicameral, but since I live in California, this is the one I drew. It had 120 seats, which is still lower than I'd probably want, but isn't terrible. For PVI, I added Brown and Obama numbers, divided by 2, and subtracted 50.
It's supposed to be a court-drawn map, but there are two seats that I think are pretty bad in terms of COI but that I couldn't really avoid, one in the Sacramento area and one in the Bay Area. I also know next to nothing about San Diego County, so keep that in mind. Finally, I ignored the VRA.
1st: Blue (R+14) Jim Nielsen (R)
Shasta (Redding), Lassen, Modoc, Tehama, Plumas and Sierra
This is one of the three reddest districts on the map, since it contains Redding.
2nd: Green (D+10) Wesley Chesbro (D)
Siskiyou, Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino
Weed County (not just because of the town). This district should reliably send a rural or small town progressive to the State Legislature, one of the few places outside the Northeast where that is true.
3rd: Purple (R+4) Doug LaMalfa (R)
Butte (Chico, Paradise), Glenn, Some of Yuba, Sutter, Colusa
Chico is the only reason this is Likely rather than Safe R, but a Republican should be fine here. McCain won it, but Brown did decently (which is actually true for all of California North of the Bay Area).
4th: Red (D+2) Dan Logue (R)
Lake, Northern Napa (Tourist Country), North Yolo (Woodland), some of Colusa, Maryville and Yuba City
I wanted to keep Maryville and Yuba City together, since they're basically one town separated by a river, so this was what ensued. It's a Toss-Up: Brown narrowly won it but Obama was nearly exactly at his national margin here.
5th: Yellow (R+3) Ted Gaines (R)
Nevada, non-suburban Placer and El Dorado, Alpine, Amador
This is the Tahoe district; I drive through it at least once a year and sometimes up to three times. It's mostly rural, with small towns like South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Placerville a combination of tourist attractions and rural mountain outposts. McCain narrowly won it, but Brown did slightly better than he did statewide here, so I'm calling it Lean R.
13th: Pale (D+22) Noreen Evans (D) vs. Michael Allen (D)
Santa Rosa and rural Sonoma County
This is very very Safe D. Evans might be running for the open 2nd congressional district; if so Allen's got this
6th: Teal (R+8) Beth Gaines (R)
Suburbs of Sacramento, including Lincoln, Rocklin, Roseville, Granite Bay, Loomis, and Antelope
This district is very compact and very conservative.
7th: Black (R+5) OPEN
Suburbs of Sacramento, including Rancho Cordova, Walsh Station, Gold River, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, and Cameron Park
A suburban/exurban combo of conservatism. El Dorado Hills is one of the most beautiful places with actual population that I've ever seen.
8th: Periwinkle (D+3) OPEN
Suburbs of Sacramento, including Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Arden, North Highlands, Foothill Farms, and La Riviera
I'm calling this a Toss-Up rather than Lean D because this is ancestrally Republican territory, but who knows, I could be wrong. Brown actually outperformed Obama here, but we'll have to wait until 2012 to see if it's fluke or trend (this occurred in Sacramento Suburbs and parts of Los Angeles, about 5 of the 120 districts on my map).
9th: Light Blue (D+20) Darrell Steinberg (D)
Northern Half of Sacramento and suburb of West Sacramento
This district is very blue, and helps accomplish the North-South split of Sacramento quite cleanly
10th: Pink (D+23) Richard Pan (D) vs. Roger Dickinson (D)
Southern Half of Sacramento and suburbs of Parkway and Florin
A strong minority opportunity district, as it's under 1/3 White. Brown also outperformed Obama here. 26% Hispanic and 23% Asian. I'm assuming all Sacramento Democrats avoid challenging Senate President Steinberg.
11th: Light Green (D+3) Alyson Huber (D)
Sacramento suburbs of Florin and Elk Grove, rural areas in the Central Valley, half of Lodi, Galt
This is not a very good COI, but it had to be drawn since the Sacramento area doesn't fit cleanly. I'm calling this a Toss-Up as well; Elk Grove has moved leftward recently and also has basically boomed from nothing in my lifetime. Yet another place Brown outperformed Obama.
12th: Pale Blue (D+13) Lois Wolk (D) vs. Mariko Yamada (D)
Davis, Dixon, Vacaville, Fairfield, Suisun City
I loved how clean this district came out. It's all the territory that is sometimes considered Bay Area and sometimes isn't (I don't think it is, personally).
14th: Puke (D+27) Jared Huffman (D)
Marin County, some of San Francisco
Yes, I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I know Marin and SF are very different, and I apologize to Alibguy, but it makes the other districts much better COI-wise.
15th: Orange (D+19) OPEN
Half of Novato, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Sonoma, Napa, American Canyon
Another swath of kinda Bay Area kinda not Bay Area, but still Safe D.
16th: Green (D+24) OPEN
Vallejo, Benicia, some of Contra Costa
This is mostly a North Bay district, and is less than 1/3 White.
17th: Purple (D+35) Tom Ammiano (D)
San Francisco
No explanation needed
18th: Yellow (D+34) Mark Leno (D) vs. Fiona Ma (D)
San Francisco
See Above
19th: Light Green (D+27) Leland Yee (D)
Daly City, San Francisco, South San Francisco, Pacifica
This is a heavily Filipino district and is plurality Asian.
20th: Black (D+18) Jerry Hill (D)
San Mateo County, including San Mateo, Foster City, San Bruno, Burlingame, Millbrae, and other suburbs
Nearly all the population is in the 1/3 by the Bay.
21st: Dark Brown (D+21) Joe Simitian (D) vs. Rich Gordon (D)
Silicon Valley, including Redwood City, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Los Altos
This is my home district. I like it.
22nd: Blue (D+21) OPEN
Silicon Valley, including Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara
This is basically a home district for me as well; I went to high school here. It's less than 40% White, so it's very possible a Hispanic would win here.
23rd: Pale Blue (D+14) Paul Fong (D)
Silicon Valley, including San Jose, Cupertino, Saratoga, Campbell, and Los Gatos
This has the biggest Obama-Brown gap (10%) of any district in NorCal. Tom Campbell could probably make it Lean D, but it'd be uphill even for him.
24th: Purple (D+13) Jim Beall (D)
San Jose
99.9% of the population is in 1/4 the area. San Jose is divided into three districts by COI, and they happen to each be different races. This is the White one.
25th: Rose (D+22) Elaine Alquist (D) vs. Nora Campos (D)
San Jose, some of Santa Clara
This is the Hispanic one (plurality, not VRA)
26th: Gray (D+18) OPEN
San Jose, Milpitas
This is the Asian plurality one
27th: Greenish Blue (D+19) Bob Wieckowski (D)
Fremont, Newark
This is also an Asian district, and includes many South Asians (the character in The Kite Runner moves here, for those who've read that book)
28th: Light Pink (D+24) Mary Hayashi, except she's probably heading to jail (D)
Hayward, Union City, Castro Valley
This is an East Bay Hispanic district.
29th: Red (D+34) Ellen Corbett (D) vs. Sandre Swanson (D)
Oakland, Alameda, San Leandro
This is interesting racially: 26.8% Hispanic, 26.3% White, 22.4% Black, 21.3% Asian. Easily one of the most diverse districts in the country.
30th: Indigo (D+42) Loni Hancock (D) vs. Nancy Skinner (D)
Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, El Cerrito
Anyone shocked the most liberal district in California includes Berkeley? I'm not.
31st: Purple (D+28) OPEN
Oakland, LaMOrinda, Martinez
I'll be the first to admit this is an absolutely horrible district, but I didn't want to leave the Bay Area in more than one district, and I just couldn't make every district good. If someone manages to, that would be nice, but otherwise I'm sticking with this nightmare.
32nd: Red (D+7) OPEN
Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon, and half of Tracy
Leaves the Bay Area through the Altamont Pass, but Tracy's practically an exurb anyway.
33rd: Medium Blue (D+9) Mark DeSaulnier (D) vs. Joan Buchanan (D)
Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Danville, half of Concord
This was a good GOP district 20 years ago
34th: Light Blue (D+15) Susan Bonilla (D)
Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, Discovery Bay
Stays in Contra Costa County, taking in places I've never even driven through before.
35th: Purple (D+13) OPEN
Stockton
America's most miserable city gets its own district. Hispanic plurality.
36th: Orange (R+3) OPEN
Manteca, Ripon, 1/2 Tracy, 1/2 Lodi, Rural Areas
One of many Central Valley agricultural districts, but this one isn't as conservative as many to the South.
37th: Blue (D+2) Anthony Cannella (R) vs. Tom Berryhill (R) vs. Kristin Olsen (R) vs. Bill Berryhill (R)
Modesto, Ceres, Shackelford, Salida
A Toss-Up in a Toss-Up region. Amazingly, FOUR Republicans in the State Leg. live here, although two are related. ZERO State Legislators live in the other four districts surrounding this one. Weird.
38th: Military, mostly off the map (R+10) OPEN
This is a super rural district: Calaveras, Tuolomne, Mono, Mariposa, Inyo, E Tulare, E Fresno, E Madera, Oakdale, Chowchilla. No town over 20,000 people.
39th: Green (EVEN) OPEN
Merced, Atwater, Turlock, Rural Areas
A perfect Toss-Up.
In Part One, the count is: 28 D, 7 R, 4 T