According to a recent Politico report, GOP elites in Washington are trying to “woo” Sununu, urging him to run against Maggie Hassan in the midterm election.

“He’d be a great candidate,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who’s been in contact with the governor. “We’re hoping he’d make the race.”

I think I speak for most Granite Staters when I say, we’re hoping he doesn’t.

Again, Gov. Sununu isn’t perfect. But what will happen if he beats Sen. Hassan? More likely than not, we’ll have a Democratic governor. Even if a more right-wing Republican were to win the primary, they would lose in the general. The best we can hope for is a less experienced, less popular, and less savvy version of Sununu.

I know Chris is an ambitious guy else he wouldn’t have gone into politics. But if he loves New Hampshire, and if he has any loyalty to his supporters — even the reluctant ones, like me — he’ll hunker down in the State House until he croaks.

By now we should know better than to trust the public-spiritedness of public officials. Nothing against Gov. Sununu, of course. It’s just that when you run for office folks are going to question one’s motives. It’s an occupational hazard.

So, let me put this in terms a politician might understand.

Sununu is going to be 47 in November. (Happy birthday, if we don’t speak before then.) His approval rating is over 70%. He is consistently ranked among the top-five most popular governors in the country. He could likely stay in office for another 20 years.

Granted, the influx of refugees from Massachusetts may complicate things, all those liberals fleeing the Bay State’s high income taxes to vote for an income tax here.

Here’s what Sununu could do instead: build a wall from Hinsdale to Salem. Build a big, beautiful wall along the southern border and make Massachusetts pay for it.

Once Sununu does that, he’s sitting pretty. The governor could focus on doing things that make life easier for ordinary folks. Help end the state’s opioid epidemic. Solve Manchester’s homelessness crisis. Reinvigorate the state’s industry. Protect our farmers. Foster small businesses. And maybe do something about all those nasty Hondas with the loud mufflers that drive down my street at 3 a.m. and wake up my baby. Just a suggestion.

Do that, and Sununu could spend his twilight years as the most beloved man in this great state. Every time Sununu walks into a diner, everyone will want to shake his hand. They’ll name schools and overpasses after him.

I know D.C. is where all the glory is, but it’s a lost cause. At the best of times, nothing gets done. And the city itself is awful. It’s full of bootlickers and brownnosers. People go to steakhouses and order salmon. Very unwholesome. And have you ever tried finding a Dunkin Donuts there? Good luck.

Sununu would have to sleep on a couch in his office, wear a tie and drink fruity cocktails with lobbyists. Trust me, he’ll hate it.

The governor knows as well as I do that New Hampshire is the greatest state in the country. We have the lowest poverty rate in the United States. We have the lowest crime rate and the second-most guns per capita. We produced the greatest poet (Robert Frost) and the greatest president (Franklin Pierce) in our nation’s history. We have the most gorgeous farmland, the most striking mountains, the most placid lakes — all right at our doorstep.

You’d have to be mad to want to leave.

If that doesn’t do it for Sununu, he should consider this: if he goes to Washington, everyone will come to hate him. Right-thinking people hate everything tainted by D.C. Then, once his career in the senate ends, Sununu would likely return to New Hampshire an establishment hack, not as an elder statesman.

Does Sen. McConnell really care what Chris Sununu thinks? No chance. He just wants the vote. In New Hampshire, Sununu is the big cheese. In the Senate, he would be just another backbench moderate eating salmon and drinking Starbucks.

That’s no kind of life for Chris Sununu. It’s no kind of life for any proud Granite Stater.