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The lawyers who helped tech tycoon Elon Musk secure a controversial rollback of far-reaching shareholder protections are now bankrolling Democratic Delaware lawmakers who voted for the legislation as they face progressive primary challenges over the so-called “billionaires bill.”

Five major law firms behind the deregulatory measure have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a newly registered political action committee called First State Future PAC, which is supporting Democratic incumbents being attacked for their support of the legislation. Those financial backers include Richards, Layton & Finger, the Delaware firm that represented Musk in his years-long dispute with Tesla shareholders to preserve his $56 billion pay package in 2018 and helped draft Delaware’s corporate governance overhaul last year.

After a massive corporate lobbying campaign, the Democratic-controlled state legislature passed Senate Bill 21 to placate Musk and other Silicon Valley leaders who were threatening to leave Delaware, a historically business-friendly state, unless it shielded them from shareholder scrutiny. With two-thirds of all Fortune 500 companies incorporated in the state, the corporate handout limits the ability of company stakeholders and pensioners nationwide to hold corporations accountable for misconduct.

Among other measures, the new law makes it more difficult for a company’s shareholders to obtain records to hold........

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