Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman who polls suggest is a leading candidate for mayor of New York, admitted Tuesday that he engaged in a series of sexually explicit communications with a young woman on the Internet.

The behavior allegedly occurred as recently as last year, long after Weiner was forced to resign from Congress after admitting to similar episodes. But in a news conference that seemed a little like a public therapy session, Weiner stood with his wife, Huma Abedin, and vowed to stay in the mayoral race.

According to the gossip website thedirty.com, Weiner, a Democrat, used the pseudonym "Carlos Danger" to exchange obscene messages and nude pictures and engage in phone sex with an unidentified woman, then 22.