That is what I think, but in usage, for instance here, the person is identifying Cali as a bastion of leftist policies and I don't think Cali is particularly far left.

Harris, Feinstein and Pelosi are all pretty center, until 2011 they had a Republican governo,r and these tech companies and their values are decidely not liberal.

Further, Cali is home to some very conservative politics, Devin Nunes is way out there as is Kevin McCarthy.

The idea of leftist doesn't seem consistent with the usage.