By Jonathan Allen and Edith Honan

NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - Anthony Weiner resisted mounting calls to bow out of the New York City mayoral race on Wednesday, a day after admitting he had continued the sexually charged online chats that led him to resign from Congress in disgrace two years ago.

Weiner, who took the lead in several polls soon after announcing his political comeback in May, said in an email to supporters that he should have been clearer about how long the behavior had persisted but that he hoped voters would give him another chance.

The New York Times and the New York Daily News both published editorials on Wednesday urging Weiner, a Democrat who was once a leading liberal voice in Congress, to end his bid to follow Mayor Michael Bloomberg into City Hall.

"The serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City," the New York Times wrote in its lead editorial, adding he had "disqualified himself" for public service.

Weiner told a news conference on Tuesday he had sent lewd images of himself to women online until at least last summer.

The New York Post, known for its outrageous headlines, went with "Meet Carlos Danger" - a reference to Weiner's reported pseudonym in the online chats with a woman he met over the Internet.

Weiner insisted he would not drop out. In his email, he said his campaign was about something larger than himself and that he would not "leave New Yorkers without a choice."

Of the resumption of online activity that had cost him his last job, Weiner said: "It was a terrible mistake that I unfortunately returned to during a rough time in our marriage."