Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a high-profile surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) campaign for the White House, said Sunday that the party must rally behind whichever Democratic presidential candidate wins the nomination to take on President Trump in November.

"Bernie has said this, I absolutely believe this: whoever gets the nomination, we have to rally behind them, no matter who it is," the freshman lawmaker told Time in an interview published the day before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. "And I would hope that everybody would do so if Bernie is the nominee as well."

Ocasio-Cortez also told the magazine she thinks Democratic Party attempts to stop Sanders from winning the nomination have been "overblown" but suggested she could see a situation in which elements in the party may be used to try and block Sanders.

She warned against party leaders from using rules to block the Vermont senator if he advances as the nominee after the upcoming caucuses and primaries, adding she thinks it could hurt the party's chances of beating Trump in the general election.

"I don't think it's a good idea for people to try to use superdelegates or other kind of subversive policies to deny anybody the nomination because it's incredibly divisive to do so, and very demoralizing, which is a direct threat in November," she told Time.

"The moment you start playing games trying to deny whoever is the nominee, we really start to get into dangerous territory in terms of defeating Trump," she added.

Sanders, who finished second to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, has been surging in recent polls ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses.

A RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls the day of the caucus had Sanders leading the field in the state at 24.2 percent, a 4-point lead over former Vice President Joe Biden, at 20.2 percent.

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg trails in third at 16.4 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at 15.6 percent, based on the RealClearPolitics average.

In RealClearPolitics national average, Biden maintains a lead with 27.2 percent of the vote to Sanders's 23.5 percent.