Coming out of the recent legislative session, Gov. Doug Ducey faced a lot of criticism for not pushing for a higher level of funding for K-12 education, including more generous raises for teachers. And a longtime friend of the governor, lobbyist Jim Norton, has been indicted as part of an alleged bribery scheme.

Some believe the governor’s electoral vulnerability may be increasing. It’s into that ring that state Sen. Steve Farley will be stepping this afternoon when he officially announces he’ll be challenging Ducey.

Expected to join Farley at the event is former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who could choose to try to return to office — from a different district.

With us to talk about that is Tim Steller, columnist for The Arizona Daily Star.

Farley is currently serving as assistant minority leader in the senate and often serves up sharp criticism of legislation pushed by majority Republicans, especially on education.

The 54-year-old who runs a graphic design and art company says "there's a way out of the mess" created by Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature and he says he knows the way, which includes a plan to eliminate some of the $13.7 billion in sales tax exemptions.

"If you just found $2 billion of that $13.7 billion, $2 billion, that you could get rid of without harming our general economy," he said. "You could decrease our sales tax by a full cent and you could increase education spending by $1 billion a year."

He joins Arizona State University professor David Garcia and political unknown Noah Dyer in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor. Ducey so far is unopposed in the Republican primary.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.