“There's going to be a need to do a lot of education,” Donovan said.

First and perhaps foremost, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) will become chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Waters is an outspoken advocate of a tight regulatory regime for the financial services industry and has been a target of tremendous criticism by Republicans.

“For the last two years, Republicans in Congress have served as accomplices to Trump and have completely neglected Congress' oversight responsibilities, enabling corruption and destructive policies to run rampant,” she said as she outlined her priorities for the 116th Congress.

And she singled out the CFPB as an agency that needs that oversight, saying that the agency must be able to “resume its essential role of protecting consumers from harmful practices without interference from the Trump Administration.”

Waters introduced legislation this Congress seeking to undo many of the changes that Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has instituted at the agency. The legislation includes provisions ranging from ensuring that the name of the agency remains the CFPB to reestablishing a separate fair lending office.

That measure went nowhere and is unlikely to be enacted next year, with Republicans controlling the Senate.

However, in the past, Waters has pushed two issues that credit union lobbyists have targeted as important.

In 2016, hundreds of lawmakers were pushing then-CFPB Director Richard Cordray to exempt credit unions from agency rules and enforcement. Cordray didn't budge.

Speaking at NAFCU's Congressional Caucus, Waters said if Cordray did not do it on his own, she would sponsor legislation to do it. Nothing ever came of that, but she is now in a better position to push that proposal.

During the same speech, Waters made it clear she would oppose any effort to touch the credit union tax exemption.

“She has been a champion for credit unions,” Donovan said.

Hunt said, “She's been very outspoken about not letting banks off the hook,” adding, “We want to make sure that credit unions aren't swept up into any legal and regulatory regime intended to curb the bad actors.”

Waters is expected to have a high profile in the new Congress, given her vehement opposition to the Trump Administration. President Trump has gone so far as to say that Waters has a low IQ.

On the Republican side, current House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) is retiring, so the committee will have a new ranking Republican. The current vice chair of the committee, Rep. Patrick McHenry, is the most likely GOP member to fill that slot.

McHenry was a supporter of Hensarling's Financial CHOICE Act, which would have rolled back much of Dodd-Frank. The bill passed the House, but was never considered in the Senate.

CUNA said it will focus a great deal of its attention on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) will become chairman. Current chairman, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will become ranking member.

“The Energy and Commerce Committee holds joint jurisdiction with Financial Services over data security,” CUNA said in a white paper issued following the election. “In order for the committee to develop joint, comprehensive data security legislation that includes a strong national data security standard, which holds all in the payments ecosystem accountable and strong breach notification requirements, CUNA will make the Energy and Commerce Committee a major focus of its advocacy.”

The financial services industry has pushed data breach legislation that would place retailers and other merchants under a similar regulatory regime – particularly when it comes to customer notification. Merchants and retailers have opposed that legislation.

For that legislation to even pass the House, the Financial Services and Energy and Commerce committees would have to agree on a proposal. Such a deal has been elusive so far, with Energy and Commerce taking the side of retailers and Financial Services siding with the financial industry.

On the Senate side, where the Republicans maintained control, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Id.) will stay as Banking Committee chairman and newly reelected Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will stay as ranking Democrat.

However, two moderate committee Democrats who supported last year's regulatory overhaul bill that passed Congress and became law were defeated in their reelection efforts. Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana had also received support from credit union political action committees.

CUNA spent $525,000 in independent expenditures for digital advertising and direct mail on Donnelly's behalf.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), another supporter of the Crapo bill, was defeated in her reelection bid.

CUNA has said it spent some $7 million on the election and had a mixed day on Nov. 6, with some Senate Democratic moderates on its political action committee having been defeated.

Credit union political action committees, particularly CUNA's – the largest of the committees – concentrated a great deal of money on Senate Democratic moderates, some of whom lost.

Overall, CUNA was happy with the results of its giving.

“We were able to help credit union incumbents even in tough races,” Trey Hawkins, CUNA's deputy chief advocacy officer for political action, said.

Whatever happens, Americans expect results, Geoff Bacino, a partner with Bacino & Associates and a former NCUA board member, said.

He said that the House and Senate had better try to enact legislation, adding this election demonstrated that voters are not shy about kicking incumbents out of office. “Two years from now, if you do nothing, you may be looking for a new job,” he said. “They don't give you much time to produce.”

But Hunt said that having each party control one house of Congress could lead to gridlock, adding that the election shows, “We still have a lot of disagreements in this country.”