My best guess for the "first Indian-American Senator" remarks is the fact that there have already been African American senators, and so they go with the thing that would make headlines. This has been criticized by many "anti-woke" people when it comes to movies and other forms of media in which they say that "X is the first Muslim black trans woman in a wheelchair"- it's just a way to push the narrative that we are making progress by ironically having to reach so deep in order to find some new unique category that people can indicate as a sign of more inclusivity.