Marine, businessman running for governor, hints at major federal corruption investigation into current administration

Charlie Hermosa, unlike many in politics and even in his own party, isn’t shy about using the “C” word and the “P” word as he begins his appeal to voters to elect him Guam governor in 2026. The combat veteran – a Marine – who also is a businessman and educator said what makes him stand out from anyone else who likely will run for the island’s highest office is that he’s not a politician.

Indeed. Mr. Hermosa is entering an arena dominated by the island’s richest and most influential families. He isn’t a Calvo, a Leon Guerrero, a Moylan, a Camacho, a Bordallo, an Ada, or a Gutierrez.

Mr. Hermosa is a Dededo resident, a father, a practicing Catholic, and a small businessman trying to survive on the fringes of an embittered economy that has not been kind to Guamanians. From the ground – away from the politics and the ivory towers the politicians build – he’s able to see what the rest of us see and experience. And unlike the typical politicians, he isn’t reticent to say the words out loud: Corruption and Poverty.

In a 20-minute interview with Kandit, the Republican talked about what makes him stand out from the typical crowd, his belief that education and poverty are intricately and inseparably paired, the need to lower taxes and look at raising the minimum wage, the meth problem, and a bombshell of a revelation:

That any day now, federal and local law enforcement will be dropping the hammer on unnamed actors within the Democrat Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) fraud.

Corruption, Mr. Hermosa told Kandit, is a disease on the government that must be eradicated; and it will take someone not connected to the political arena and beholden to the powerful and the rich to rid the island of the scourge.

Watch the full interview here.

Brief biography:

Mr. Hermosa is the owner of Bella Wings Aviation, an adjunct professor at the University of Guam, and a member of several non profit organizations in Guam.

He is the former general manager of APL Guam, and was instrumental in the effort against competitor Matson’s campaign to push out APL and return Guam to its Matson monopoly era.

He is a combat veteran, among the first Marines to enter Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks inside the continental United States. He is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, where he earned his bachelor of science in marine transportation. He also has a master’s degree in transportation policy and logistics.

In 2022, Mr. Hermosa was a finalist for Businessman of the Year.