When members of the U.S. House of Representatives convene Thursday to elect their speaker, the votes are assured for Nancy Pelosi, the chamber’s Democratic leader since 2003.

But for the first time, Pelosi and her top deputies — Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader-designee, and James Clyburn of South Carolina, the majority whip-designee — will assume power with self-imposed term limits, vowing to step aside after four years at most.

Both developments are thanks to Ed Perlmutter. The Arvada Democrat, who won an eighth term in Congress on Nov. 6, brokered the deal last month between Pelosi and enough Democrats to ensure her the votes in exchange for a promise to pass the torch.

“I just feel like we need to allow young people to start really rising,” Perlmutter told supporters at a recent Jefferson County gathering to thank campaign volunteers. “We have so much talent, and especially with this new class that’s coming in. We have 60 new (Democratic) members of Congress. My effort was to start really getting some change.”

Pelosi didn’t draw a prominent challenger for the post she most recently held between 2007 and 2011, the last time Democrats had a House majority. Still, her bid was met with skepticism by dozens of Democrats who argued for new leadership. A decade-long Republican attack on Pelosi didn’t help.

“The one thing we really learned is: There are kind of two realities,” Perlmutter said. “There’s the reality of most of America, and how we look at things, and there’s the reality of Washington, D.C., where relationships are so key. You develop these relationships over time, and sometimes they don’t look at things quite the same way.”

As recounted in a blow-by-blow story by Rachael Bade, Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan in Politico, Perlmutter led a group of rebels aiming to unseat Pelosi, meeting with her multiple times in Washington as the intrigue over her future deepened.

“I was trying to merge a reality from here, which says we need to have some change in Washington, D.C. — and so many candidates ran on change — but also recognize that the relationships that have been built over a long time to get things done and all that, it’s not that easy to change those overnight,” Perlmutter told supporters.

“So I’ve been in this battle — whatever you want to call it — about changing our leadership. Our leadership has been in the same position for 16 years, and I felt like it was time for a change. After having had probably a dozen conversations with Nancy Pelosi over the last three or four weeks, I recognized that she is the one that should be leading us right now. But she also recognizes that change needs to start happening.”

In meeting after meeting, Perlmutter and Pelosi hatched a deal to establish the term limits. She’ll need the support of two-thirds of her caucus if she wants another term as speaker, but that will be her final one.

Several other rebels had made their peace with Pelosi by the time Perlmutter’s plan emerged, so he could bring her enough votes to ensure a win.

“We’re going to start having some succession planning, some leadership training for folks, and a recognition from leadership that the torch has to be passed,” Perlmutter said. “At the end of the day, I think we kind of got the best of both worlds, which is leaders (who are) really ready and who know what they’re doing right now, to deal with a White House that is erratic at best, but a recognition and a sense that they’re there for the challenges that will come in the future.

“You take on challenges from time to time if you think they’re necessary, and I feel good about the result that occurred here.”

Pelosi will get votes from two other Colorado Democrats in the House — Diana DeGette of Denver, elected to her 12th term in November, and Joe Neguse, who won the Boulder-focused 2nd Congressional District seat relinquished by Gov.-elect Jared Polis. But the other new Democrat in the delegation insists she won’t get his vote.

Jason Crow has been taking a different approach. After running on a promise that he wouldn’t vote for Pelosi as House speaker no matter what — Crow has said he won’t change his mind.

“Jason won’t be supporting Nancy Pelosi for speaker,” his spokeswoman said. “He will vote for new leadership to move our country forward.”

The Democratic caucus will nominate Pelosi for speaker, and the Republican caucus will nominate U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

Crow has said he won’t vote “present” at the speaker’s election, an option taken by a few House members over the years when they don’t support either major party’s nominee. But it appeared that only Pelosi and McCarthy would be nominated.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter