US presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren meets her doppelganger

A dead-ringer for Democratic star Elizabeth Warren got a taste of what it's like to be a front-runner in the 2020 US presidential race.

When Minnesota resident Stephanie Oyen attended a rally in Saint Paul for the US senator, she was mobbed by fans.

Sporting a blonde bob, glasses and a royal-blue blazer, the lookalike said supporters kept asking her for selfies.

It was worth it, she says, as she finally got her own photo-op with her famous doppelganger.

"She sort of looked me up and down and looked surprised," Ms Oyen told the BBC.

Ms Oyen, 50, started getting mistaken for the 70-year-old senator a few years ago, when she bought a similar pair of glasses.

"For the last two years it's been a somewhat humorous and very easy Halloween costume," she said.

She decided to wear the costume to Monday evening's rally at a liberal arts college, thinking everyone would be in on the joke.

"I thought they'd giggle a little bit, and obviously know that I'm not her," she said.

But as she approached the stage to get a better view, people started to swarm her, thinking she was about to make a speech.

"I felt really bad because I was letting them down."

A supporter herself, the mother-of-two said it was "inspiring" to see how many people felt moved by the senator's message.

She took off the outfit so as not to confuse people anymore, but put it back on while she waited in line for a selfie with the candidate.

That's when Ms Warren pulled her aside.

"We need to talk," the senator for Massachusetts joked, before posing with her for a picture.