Pete Buttigieg’s Halloween costume didn’t take much.

Campaigning in New Hampshire this week, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor simply got rid of his tie, picked up a clipboard, and threw on a Boston Celtics hat.

The result? A near-spitting image of Celtics coach Brad Stevens.

Kevin Donohue, the New Hampshire communications director for the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign, tweeted photos of Buttigieg doing his best in-game Stevens poses after a town tall Wednesday morning in Derry.

Was so great to have Brad Stevens come to New Hampshire and give the @PeteButtigieg team a pep talk. #HappyHalloween pic.twitter.com/PC3fExskxc — Kevin Donohoe (@kevinsidonohoe) October 31, 2019

“Was so great to have Brad Stevens come to New Hampshire and give the @PeteButtigieg team a pep talk,” Donuhue tweeted.


The candidate also tweeted out one of the photos of himself later Wednesday afternoon, tagging Stevens and the Celtics with the caption “Game on.”

Less than three hours later, Stevens’s wife responded in kind — posting a photo on Twitter of her husband handing out candy in a Buttigieg-esque white button-down with rolled-up sleeves and a tie.

“Game on @PeteButtigieg,” she wrote.

Buttigieg and Stevens have previously acknowledged their resemblance, even without a costume — as well as their eerily parallel biographies. Both were raised by college professors in Indiana, began their careers in corporate work before switching fields, and garnered national attention for their respective success during their early- to mid-30s.

The fellow Hoosiers even share a degree of mutual admiration.

“I’ve actually followed him pretty close and — I’ll be real candid — I love a lot of his platform,” Stevens told a local radio station back in March. “I’m a big fan of his. I haven’t endorsed anyone yet, because I don’t really get into the political stuff too much, but he’s a hard one for me to root against.”

During an interview with The Athletic this summer, Stevens said he first learned about Buttigieg from his wife.


“We’ve both grown to become huge fans of his,” Stevens said.

In a separate interview, Buttigieg remarked about his 43-year-old lookalike’s sense of composure, a characteristic that observers also say they share.

“He’s just unflappable,” the 37-year-old mayor told The Athletic. “Once in awhile you’ll see something that will get a rise out of him. But there’s a sense of calm, there’s a sense of a lot of preparation, and he just has a presence that I imagine is very effective for keeping his players focused on the goal.”

Of course, the similarities only go so far, as Buttigieg noted in 2017 when a Twitter user pointed out their likeness.

“If you ever saw me attempt to play basketball, the comparisons would end,” he wrote.