The agreement, which if adopted by Democrats would also bind the party’s other two top leaders, would almost certainly clear the way for Pelosi, the Democratic leader from California, to reclaim the mantle of the first woman to serve in the post that is second in line to the presidency.

The plan she publicly embraced Wednesday would bind her to a four-term limit — eight years — that would apply retroactively, taking into account the two terms she already served as speaker. It is the latest in a series of deals Pelosi has struck in the past several weeks to win over a small but vocal group of Democratic defectors and secure her place as speaker.

Democrats have governed for more than a decade with the same three people at the helm. Pelosi, 78; Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, 79; and Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, 79, must now prepare to cede power to a new generation, even as they move to take the House majority next month.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Pelosi made it clear she would submit to the term limit regardless of whether her party supports it.

“I am comfortable with the proposal, and it is my intention to abide by it whether it passes or not,” she said.

Pelosi won an internal vote among Democrats last month to be nominated as speaker, a post she held from 2007 to 2011. But a group of defectors who have agitated for new leadership at the top of the party have been threatening to withhold their votes when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3 for a formal vote on the House floor. Pelosi would need a majority of those present and voting in the chamber to be elected.

The rebels demanded that Pelosi either step aside or give a date when she would do so, something she had refused to do, arguing that it would weaken her hand as a bulwark against President Donald Trump.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Julie Hirschfeld Davis © 2018 The New York Times