fb-pixelElizabeth Warren met her doppelganger in Minnesota Monday night - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Elizabeth Warren met her doppelganger in Minnesota Monday night

Which one’s Elizabeth Warren? Stephanie Oyen and the Massachusetts senator shook hands Monday night after a rally in Minnesota.Courtesy of Stephanie Oyen

Senator Elizabeth Warren apparently has a doppelganger — and the two met at a rally in Minnesota on Monday night.

Warren’s lookalike, Stephanie Oyen, told the Globe that family members informed her in recent years that when she wears her wireless glasses, she bears a resemblance to the Massachusetts senator. So when Oyen heard Warren was coming to Macalester College in Saint Paul, she decided to don the blue blazer and spectacles she’s worn as her Halloween costume the past two years for Monday’s event.

“I thought, I’ll put on the blazer and glasses and people would think it would be funny and cute,” Oyen, a 50-year-old resident of Edina, Minn., said Tuesday, adding that she is an avid Warren supporter.

Advertisement



However, a trip to a local grocery store before the rally gave Oyen the first clue that people might think her costume was more than an illusion.

“People were turning their heads, and stopping and staring at me,” she said.

It only got worse when she arrived at the rally a bit late with a friend — where, Oyen said, she walked into a crowd of Warren supporters who were anxious to hear the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate speak.

“I came in from the back and wanted to get close to the stage, so as I was walking up to the stage, all of a sudden people start yelling, ‘She’s here, she’s here,’ and clapping and cheering,” Oyen said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was so uncomfortable.

“That’s when I realized, I do bear a strong resemblance to her.”

Oyen said that when she gets flustered, she talks with her hands and nods frequently — something that convinced everyone even more that she was the progressive politician.

Oyen said a couple dozen people in the crowd approached her, asking for a picture. Some didn’t believe her when she said she wasn’t really Elizabeth Warren.

Advertisement



“I had taken my jacket and glasses off in an attempt to show people that I wasn’t her. . . I was trying to disappear. I couldn’t believe it was happening,” she said. “Once she got up here, everyone knew I wasn’t her, and things calmed down.”

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren spoke during a rally Monday at Macalaster College in St. Paul, Minn. Jim Mone/Associated Press/Associated Press

After Warren’s speech, Oyen flocked to a nearby “selfie” line so she could take a picture with the senator.

“She looked me up and down and said, ‘We need to talk!’ ” Oyen recalled. “I couldn’t tell if she knew I was dressed as her — it was moving very fast. Everyone laughed, and we took a picture, and then someone called me back for more pictures — I think her staffers might have wanted a picture,” she continued. “Then at least I was able to say how much I admired her.”

A Warren representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.