Does the MA House Speaker race matter?

Well, kinda, yeah.

Even though Bob DiLeo still hasn't admitted that he plans to step down, the future for progressives in Massachusetts politics is at stake. Russell Holmes' outspoken contempt for the sentiment of Ron Mariano stepping in and maintaining the status quo highlights a number of fractures within the Democratic Party, reflecting a larger power struggle between progressives and moderates in American politics.

Holmes has called the current speakership a "dictatorship" and has complained that Rep Mariano would be a continuation of a trend of centralized power in MA legislature. He also asserted that white men, being the "least reliable Democratic demographic", leading a Democratic house is "structurally racist" because it may lead to his agenda, such as millionaire taxes and increased capital gains taxes, being ignored for legislature that is actually popular.

Holmes, however, has made an interesting point: this vote should not happen until new members of the House are sworn in in January. Considering it's already established procedure to elect a new House speaker in the first session of a new term, I find Holmes' desperate attack on a pre-Christmas vote very interesting. Even if there were to be a pre-Christmas vote, that speaker would have to be reelected in January.

Some progressives have broken with Holmes, understanding that a leadership shakeup isn't a priority during a crisis. The committees and bureacracy that Holmes seems to want the House speaker position to devolve into are not important when restaurants and businesses are going under every day.

The point is that there is no grand conspiracy to hold progressives back in Massachusetts. A figurehead is not equivalent to a dictator. Seditious attacks on establishment by progressives stoke mistrust in government and civil unrest - the exact opposite of what is needed in a pandemic situation.