There’s a battle brewing in the Florida Senate district 12 Democratic primary and it is with two candidates who are all too familiar with each other.

Former Senator Gary Siplin is trying to win his old seat back from Senator Geraldine Thompson, and the Florida Democratic Party is trying to stop it.

It was back in 2004 when the names Geraldine Thompson and Gary Siplin last appeared on that same ballot. Thompson was trying to win the seat Siplin held in then Senate District 19 and lost.

Gary Siplin held the seat for 10 years, serving in the Florida Senate from 2002 to 2012. Eventually he hit his term limit.

In 2012 Thompson went after the seat again and faced off against Siplin’s wife. This time she won, and the Florida Democratic Party wants to keep her there.

“It’s going to be a very big showdown and there’s going to be a lot of mud being thrown around, I can guarantee that,” said Jeremiah Jaspon, News 13 Political Analyst. 

The party has donated over $16,000 to Senator Thompson’s campaign and in total she’s raised $160,965. Siplin has raised $22,975.

“When Gary Siplin was the senator he went against the Democratic Party on a number of different topics and areas," Jaspon said. "I don’t think they’ve forgotten about that so they’re not going to sit idly by and let Gary Siplin get that seat back. That’s why they’ve endorsed in the primary here.”

Siplin’s campaign denied our request for an interview, and said they did not want to focus on the negative ads and that his record stands for itself.

Senator Thompson doesn’t think Siplin should be running again and said that's what term limits were created for.

“When he was asked what I had done or hadn’t done, he couldn’t answer,” said Senator Geraldine Thompson. “So I think this is about him, not about the community.”

There are two Republicans facing off in the primary on August 26 as well, Fritz Jackson Seide and Edward DeAguilera. But it’s a seat that’s long belonged to Democrats.

“Over 50 percent Democrats voting and a Democrat will win this seat,” said Jaspon. “The question is whether its Siplin or Thompson.”