Dear New York Times, Kern County California is not surrounded by blue

In fact, the 3 counties on its northern border all voted for Donald Trump.

Source:  CNN (white arrows added)

In California, a Bastion of Red Waits for Trump to Nudge This Blue State.  (The New York Times, 11/19/2016)

Surrounded by blue, Kern County, a sprawling area at the southern end of the state’s Central Valley, stands out as a rare bastion of red — a Republican island in the country’s most liberal state.   

Kern is the largest county, population-wise, that voted for Trump.

But not the only county.

21 other California counties voted for Trump, including Modoc (71.8%) and Lassen (72.7%), located in the northeast corner of the state.

Source:  CNN

And until 2012, Orange County, bordering Los Angeles County to the southeast, was reliably red.

Source:  CNN and U.S. Election Atlas

In  reporter Jennifer Medina's defense, she does 'correct' herself, somewhat, in paragraph 7, but if you had stopped reading this article after the fourth paragraph, you would have moved on with the wrong impression.