And don't give up hope. Crooked interests are absolutely counting on voters' cynicism to allow them to operate.
It doesn't matter who gave authority to the regulator, what matters is whether or not they are currently responsible for that regulator, and are doing a good job of it.
There's a congressional committee on pretty much every department under the sun. Follow the chain of command.
> and how can you possibly know that the opposing candidate would do a better job?
"Billy really sucks at doing his job, but we can't fire him because we don't know if we hire someone worse" isn't a good reason to keep Billy employed. Keep sacking the ones that are doing a terrible job, until you find one that does a good one.
I think you might be greatly surprised by how much influence you personally can have on politics on a very practical level by interacting with politicians of said party in your district on a personal level.
Just google "climate change republican party" and you will have a good summary about who should get your vote for the sake of your grand children.