He embarked on a business career in his family's insurance company in 1958, and entered politics during the 1960s as a member of the Republican Party. He was elected as a senator in the Legislature of Guam in 1965, and during his three terms in the body served as chair of the governmentCommittee on Finance and Taxation and parliamentary leader of the Republican Party. Calvo was elected governor in 1978, and served until 1982.
Calvo-Palomo Campaign (1974)
Calvo teamed up with Senator Tony Palomo to challenge the incumbents, Gov. Carlos Camacho and Lt. Gov. Kurt Moylan. The Calvo-Palomo ticket's attacks on the administration included charges of corruption and favoritism, and the primary election was so close – Camacho-Moylan won by only 261 votes – that Calvo-Palomo decided to run as a write-in team for the general election. While Calvo-Palomo lost in the general election, they forced a runoff election to be held between Camacho-Moylan and the Democratic team of Ricardo J. Bordallo and Rudy Sablan. Camacho-Moylan lost the runoff, and afterward Carlos Camacho retired from politics and gave control of the Republican Party to Calvo.
Governorship (1979–1983)
During his first year as governor, Calvo reduced the government of Guam's deficit by $27 million, but the deficit continued to climb for the rest of his term due mainly to long-standing problems with tax collections. Guam's economy began to regain health under Calvo's administration, as he sought to attract new businesses to Guam, including a tuna-fishing fleet, a garment manufacturer, and hotel construction. Visitor arrivals also registered sharp increases. But Calvo's term as governor was marred by the teacher's strike of 1981, which lasted many months and caused deep divisions in Guam's education system. He lost to Bordallo-Reyes Campaign in the 1982 election and decided to retire from politics. Although he has never run for office since, Calvo remains strongly influential in Republican politics, as its senior statesman, and his son Eddie Baza Calvo was one of the most popular senators in I Liheslaturan Guåhan/the Guam Legislature and was elected governor of Guam in 2010 along with running mateRay Tenorio.
Personal life
He is married to Rosa Herrero Baza and had eight children, including Eddie Calvo, who was Governor of Guam from 2011 to 2019.
