DENVER -- Democratic Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has won the Colorado governor's race after a campaign in which the GOP nominee imploded and a third-party candidate made a late surge.

Hickenlooper is a former brew pub owner who benefited from the collapse of GOP nominee Dan Maes. Immigration hard-liner Tom Tancredo got in the race as a third-party candidate and couldn't overcome Hickenlooper's widespread popularity.

Maes won the Republican primary but suffered a series of campaign gaffes, including questions about his murky law enforcement history and his views on U.N. global warming conspiracies involving bicycles in Denver.

Hickenlooper refused to run attack ads against his opponents, saying Colorado's economic problems are much more serious than individual concerns.

He replaces Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who decided in not to run for re-election.