Pelosi strikes deal all but ensuring she will be the next House speaker — for no more than 4 years

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sealed a deal with restive Democratic lawmakers Wednesday evening that gives her enough votes to ensure a second turn as House speaker when the next Congress gavels into session in January.

Under the agreement, finalized Monday night with three Democrats who opposed her speakership, Pelosi pledges to support a measure that will limit the top three House Democrats — Pelosi, incoming Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), and Democratic Whip Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) — to three two-year terms, with a fourth term possible given support from two-thirds of Democrats. Since all three Democrats have already served two terms in their upcoming roles, they would have to step down no later than 2022. House Democrats will vote on the proposal by Feb. 15.

Hoyer and Clyburn oppose the measure, but Pelosi, 78, said in a statement that she's "comfortable with the proposal and it is my intention to abide by it whether it passes or not." She reiterated that she sees herself "as a bridge to the next generation of leaders, a recognition of my continuing responsibility to mentor and advance new members into positions of power and responsibility in the House Democratic caucus." After she released her statement, seven Democratic holdouts said they will vote for her, giving her one more vote than needed to be elected speaker.

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If elected Jan. 3, Pelosi, already the first female House speaker, will join a small group of lawmakers who lost the speaker's gavel then reclaimed it. The last repeat House speaker was Sam Rayburn (D-Texas), whose second term began in 1955. "No other two-time speaker has reclaimed the gavel after more than four years out of power," The Washington Post notes.