Calvo worked in the private sector before entering politics in the late 1990s. He formerly worked as the general manager of the Pacific Construction Company and the vice president and general manager of the Pepsi Bottling Company of Guam. Calvo, a Republican, was first elected as a Senator in the Guam Legislature in 1998, taking office in 1999. He has since been elected to five terms in office. Calvo has served as both the Vice Speaker and Acting Speaker of the Legislature during his tenure in office. In 2002, Calvo ran for Lieutenant Governor of Guam as the running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate, Tony Unpingco, the former Speaker of the Legislature. However, the Unpingco-Calvo ticket was defeated in the Republican primary election by gubernatorial candidate Felix Perez Camacho, who went on to be elected governor in the 2002 general election.
Governor of Guam
2010 election
On April 30, 2010, Calvo announced that he would leave the Legislature at the end of his term. In the same speech, Calvo simultaneously told supporters at Chamorro Village that he intended to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Guam in 2010. He chose Senator Ray Tenorio as his running mate. Calvo went on to defeat Lieutenant Governor Michael Cruz in the Republican primary election on September 4, 2010 and ran against former Democratic Governor Carl Gutierrez and his running mate, Senator Frank Aguon. The Calvo-Tenorio ticket won the 2010 gubernatorial election by a slim margin, and although the final count was enough to win the election, it was still within 2% of the Guiterrez Aguon ticket. Immediately after the election, a recount was ordered by the Guam Election Commission.
2014 election
Governor Eddie Calvo and Lt. Governor Ray Tenorio announced their intention to seek re-election for a second four-year term. The team held the first official rally to kickoff their campaign on June 7, 2014 at their campaign headquarters in Anigua, following a motorcade of supporters from Yigo. Calvo again faced Democratic Nominee Carl Gutierrez in the general election. Calvo defeated Gutierrez in the general election, winning 64 percent of the vote.
Tenure
As governor, Calvo set a policy of hiring only government employees with at least a high school diploma. According to Josh Barro of The New York Times, Calvo stopped "some of Guam's worst fiscal practices", such as financing itself by delaying tax refunds, and ran consecutive budget surpluses. In February 2014, Calvo signed Bill 146, which made the Castle Doctrine the law in Guam. Additionally, in May 2014 Calvo signed Bill 296 into law, which changed language for concealed firearms licensing from "may" to "shall", meaning that concealed firearm licenses "shall" be issued to an applicant who meets the various specifications. In March 2012, Calvo endorsed Mitt Romney for president. In January 2016 he endorsed TexasSenator Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican primary, and after Cruz dropped out of the primaries he endorsed Donald Trump. Calvo intended to include a referendum on Guam's status, similar to the referendums held in January and September 1982, during the island's November 2016 elections, but it was delayed. In January 2017 Calvo submitted a proposed law to legalize recreational cannabis in Guam.
