Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate Perdue proposes election law enforcement unit in wake of 2020

Former Georgia GOP Sen. David Perdue, who is now running against Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, is unfurling a plan to create an Election Law Enforcement Division in the state.

"What happened in 2020 should never happen again," Perdue said Thursday when announcing the proposal, in a statement obtained by Fox News.

He also talked about establishing a law enforcement unit to investigate allegations of election crimes and claims in his state. and called for all elections results to be independently audited prior to certification. 

The results of the 2020 election in Georgia have continued to be a source of controversy, even as the state heads into the 2022 midterm.

Georgia was one a number of states in which President Biden narrowly captured more votes than former President Trump, though the state was plagued by a number of voting irregularities that prompted several counts of the votes.

Trump was angered by Kemp's decision to certify the state's election results and repeatedly promised to help unseat him during the next cycle.

Trump endorsed Perdue one day after the former senator announced his campaign in December. 

Perdue barely lost his bid for a Second senate term to Democrat Jon Ossoff during Georgia's January 2021 runoff. 

"When Georgians had legitimate questions about the November election, Kemp refused to investigate or fix problems before the January runoff. Leave it to a 20-year career politician like Kemp to sit on his hands when we needed him most. He failed us, and Georgians lost confidence that their vote would count," said Perdue on Thursday, angling criticism at the governor.

"The purpose of this law enforcement unit is to give Georgians confidence that only legal votes will be counted, and that anyone who tries to interfere with our elections will be arrested and prosecuted."

In response to Perdue's announcement and criticism of Kemp, a senior adviser to the governor's campaign said, "David Perdue is repeatedly lying to the people of Georgia – without facts or evidence. By proposing this unit, Perdue is finally admitting what state law and the Georgia constitution have made abundantly clear: the Governor has no legal authority regarding the oversight, investigation, or administration of elections in our state."

In the Democratic field, voting rights activist and former state Democratic lawmaker Stacey Abrams is running for the second time in a row.