JD Vance and Marco Rubio’s successors in the Senate are smoothly advancing toward the primaries. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is contributing to job losses and rising concerns in the technology sector. Additionally, a new genetic test might be able to forecast a child’s likelihood of obesity later in life. Here’s what’s important today.

Vance and Rubio’s Senate successors avoid GOP primary drama

When JD Vance and Marco Rubio became top contenders on Donald Trump’s shortlist for running mates the previous year, it stirred a sense of unease among Republicans in Ohio and Florida.

Had either senator moved to the White House, their respective governors would need to choose a replacement—a possible tumultuous situation given the Republican Party’s competitive internal dynamics in those states.

In the end, both Vance and Rubio joined the new Trump administration. And their appointed successors, Jon Husted in Ohio and Ashley Moody in Florida, are facing smoother than expected paths, at least for now.

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Neither Husted nor Moody has a credible primary opponent at the moment. Husted scored an early Trump endorsement, while Moody has made efforts to get closer to the president’s political team.

Both are also coming off strong fundraising quarters that could scare away any Republican tempted to challenge them.

Given recent trends in both states, Husted and Moody will enter their 2026 special elections as favorites in November, too.

The president’s backing helped Husted secure early endorsements, and his decades-long record in elected office makes him one of the best-known politicians in the state. Combining these factors helps him “clear the field,” one campaign manager said.

Since her appointment to the Senate in January, Moody has enhanced her ties to Trump while strengthening her financial footing, ending June with $2.2 million cash on hand. Any primary opponent would “quickly find their candidacy crushed,” a GOP veteran said.

Read more about how their primaries could shape up.

More politics news:

• The last vestige of the decades-old bipartisan funding process is at risk of dying, as the Republican-led Congress shifts to a partisan approach and party-line votes.
• When it comes to the “big, beautiful bill,” few places could be impacted more significantly than Nevada — one of the country’s most closely divided swing states.
• Trump wants Washington’s football franchise and Cleveland’s baseball team to revert to their former names, both of which were changed amid national discussions about dropping logos and names considered racist.

AI is fueling job cuts, but is it really more efficient?

As news swirls about multibillion-dollar deals for artificial intelligence startups, a small research nonprofit group is turning some heads in the tech world.

Its findings were simple but surprising: AI made software engineers slower.

“When developers are allowed to use AI tools, they take 19% longer to complete issues,” the nonprofit group, METR, which specializes in evaluating AI models, said in its report.

The results offer a reality check for major companies like Google and Microsoft moving toward AI generated coding.

Overall job openings for software developers hit a five-year low earlier this year, and many coders are anxious about AI’s responsibility for the slowdown. While it’s clear AI can write code, it’s far less certain whether the technology is a direct threat to coding jobs in the short term.

“We have tools that are way more powerful than any we’ve seen before,” one expert said, “But there’s also a long way to go.” Read the full story here.

New genetic test could predict adult obesity risk

A new genetic test may predict a child’s risk of obesity in adulthood, paving the way for early interventions.

In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists examined the genes of more than 5 million people to determine which genetic variants are linked to obesity. Certain variants can affect how a person’s body stores fat or make them more prone to overeating.

With this information, the researchers were able to create a score that could be used to predict a person’s risk of obesity as an adult — before they even turn 5.

Identifying a person’s genetic risk in childhood and intervening with lifestyle coaching could make a big difference in adult obesity rates, said study co-author Ruth Loos.

Loos’ test is twice as effective as the method doctors currently use, but was primarily focused on people with European ancestry. Here’s what else we know.

Read all about it

• A Delta regional flight performed a “go-around” to avoid colliding with a B-52 bomber.
• An off-duty Customs and Border Patrol agent was shot in a New York City park in an alleged robbery that appeared to be random, police said.
• Coldplay’s Chris Martin gave concertgoers a cheeky heads up about the “kiss cam” during the band’s first performance following the viral moment last week.

• The nation’s largest wildfire this year has burned over 95,740 acres, fire officials in central Oregon said, and could intensify to become a so-called megafire.
• Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its planes and those of regional subsidiary Horizon Air amid a computer system outage.

Staff Pick: Meet the weather detectives trying to better understand hail

Hail is a sneaky threat that costs the U.S. tens of billions of dollars in damage each year. NBC News meteorologist and climate reporter Chase Cain visited Montana to catch up with researchers who drive into storms — come hail or high water — hoping to crack open the science of how hail forms and how to better forecast when big hail will strike.

The project, appropriately called ICECHIP, is the first major field campaign studying hail in nearly 50 years. Researchers raced across the plains to capture the inner dynamics of dozens of storms with tools like mobile radar and drones with the goal of testing whether climate change is increasing powerful updrafts inside thunderstorms, which can help form larger hailstones. Think of it like “Twister” but for hail.

— Evan Bush, science reporter

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

What exactly are ampoules? Here’s everything to know about the viral Korean beauty treatment. Plus, NBC Select found the best spring and summer dresses from Amazon — and all are under $50.

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