Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat and Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairwoman, warned that attempts by Democrats to sabotage Sen. Bernie Sanders's efforts to win the nomination would result in "terrible consequences" for the party.

"Having endorsed Sen. Sanders and, working very hard for him now, I will just say that anybody who tries to do that is doing it at the great peril of our entire Democratic Party and process. That would be a huge mistake, and, so, I'm just going to leave it there and say that people should understand that, if they do that, if they try to tear down Sen. Sanders, they're not just tearing down Sen. Sanders," she told the Washington Examiner.

Sanders's supporters contend that, in the 2016 Democratic nomination fight, the Democratic Party effectively put its thumb on the scale in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, with the 2020 Democratic field still featuring multiple viable candidates, Sanders's allies are raising concerns that the Vermont senator could be denied the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention this summer even if he comes in with the most delegates.

"They are tearing down tens of millions of people who believe in him, who have voted for him, who will vote for him, and who do believe that his ideas are not radical at all," Jayapal said. "They are actually the things that the United States should do to work for working people."

Sanders has gained momentum since winning the first three primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. He currently leads the delegate count with 45 delegates, 20 more than his nearest competitor, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Sanders's rise to the top as Democrats' current front-runner has made many in the party uneasy, including his fellow primary candidates who accuse him of being too extreme to appeal to independent and centrist voters.

During the Democratic debate in South Carolina on Tuesday, Sanders's opponents attacked him for his defense of the Castro regime in Cuba and his support of Medicare for All, which would eliminate private health insurance.

Jayapal cautioned that she believes it is a mistake for Democrats to try to instill fear in their voters about Sanders's positions.

"If Sen. Sanders is the person with the plurality of votes and somebody else is quite far behind him, It would be a big mistake to try to stop that. It would be a big mistake to try to stop him along the way," she said. "I think, personally, that it's a mistake to fearmonger and try to make people so afraid of him. I actually think that will backfire and that people don't buy that stuff."

Jayapal added, "I think there are a lot of terrible consequences to trying to kneecap somebody who is winning multiple states. We're not done. We're still in the middle of it. We've got Super Tuesday," which is coming up on March 3, when 14 states and entities vote in Democratic primaries.