Barbra Streisand, Joan Jett and Uma Thurman among celebs who backed Beto O’Rourke

Actress Uma Thurman made four donations to Beto O’Rourke in the closing days of the campaign for a total of $2,600. Actress Uma Thurman made four donations to Beto O’Rourke in the closing days of the campaign for a total of $2,600. Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS, Contributor / AFP/Getty Images Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS, Contributor / AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Barbra Streisand, Joan Jett and Uma Thurman among celebs who backed Beto O’Rourke 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

Beto O’Rourke’s star power was on full display in the closing days of the U.S. Senate campaign.

Musicians, actors and bestselling writers joined a surge of donors supporting the El Paso Congressman in the final days of his unsuccessful campaign against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, newly released campaign finance reports show.

In just the final days of the campaign, $750 came from Barbara Streisand, actress Uma Thurman sent in four donations totaling $2,600, rock legend Joan Jett tossed in $50 and Grateful Dead co-founder Phil Lesh chipped in another $962.

Other stars from Saturday Night Live, CSI and Game of Thrones were among those to donate to O’Rourke.

It was part of more than $10 million that flowed into O’Rourke’s campaign from Oct. 18 to election day, records show. Cruz raised $4.8 million during that timeframe.

For the whole election, O’Rourke and Cruz ended up spending more than $125 million combined on the campaign — a new record for spending in a U.S. Senate race. O’Rourke was responsible for $80 million of that.

Cruz defeated O’Rourke, but it was the closest U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1978. Cruz won by just under 215,000 votes.

On the campaign trail, Cruz often warned his supporters that Hollywood liberals and New York liberals were behind O’Rourke’s campaign. On a conference call with supporters on Monday, Cruz said Democrats fired everything they had against them, including Hollywood.

“We saw much of Hollywood come out against us,” Cruz said.

The latest list of celebrities to help O’Rourke adds to a bigger list that donated much earlier in his campaign.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com