I think it's important to remember how California got here. In the 2000 redistricting, the state legislature agreed to conduct an extreme bipartisan gerrymander, drawing every seat to be as safe as possible so that no incumbent could get voted out without losing a primary. This was widely understood to be a conspiracy of politicians against democratic accountability, and thus voters decided (with the support of many advocacy orgs and every major newspaper in the state) to put an end to it.

That's not the redistricting Newsom wants for 2028, and I tend to agree that Dems have to play the game right now, but I'd really like to see them present some sort of story for why it's not going to happen again.