‘Big Mistake’: Kamala Harris Extends Olive Branch To Elon Musk After EV Summit Snub

Kamala Harris said Wednesday it was a “big mistake” for the Biden White House to exclude Elon Musk from its 2021 electric-vehicle summit, calling on presidents to put “political loyalties” aside when celebrating American innovation.

The former vice president made the comments in a live interview at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., echoing a point she also makes in her new book, “107 Days.” Her remarks nod to a long-running rift sparked when Tesla was left off the guest list at the White House event. (RELATED: Prosecutor Who Let Tesla Vandal Off Easy Now Under DOJ Probe For Race-Based Policy)

“I write in the book that I thought it was a big mistake to not invite Elon Musk when we did a big EV event,” Harris said. “I mean, here he is, the major American manufacturer of extraordinary innovation in this space — well, and in space — and the fact that he was not invite — on merit, a president of the United States, I believe, has to put aside political loyalties when they get in the way of what is actually… and should be a source of pride for us as Americans that we’re creating that technology and innovation.”

“So I thought that was a mistake,” she continued. “And I don’t know Elon Musk, but I have to assume that that was something that hit him hard and had an impact on his perspective.”

Tesla, the country’s top EV maker, wasn’t invited when then-President Joe Biden hosted Detroit’s unionized automakers at the White House on Aug. 5, 2021 — a decision that fueled months of bad blood between the administration and Musk. Musk later met with senior Biden aides in January 2023 to discuss EVs and electrification, though he didn’t meet the president, according to the Associated Press.