In July 2026, people on social media shared a claim about a Republican Party leader who was apparently caught possessing crack cocaine. For example, one X post (archived) claimed, "Republican Party Chairman Matthew Reilly was found passed out in his car with a crack pipe in his hand. Police recovered crack cocaine. He has now resigned." The post included a photo of a man who appeared to be sleeping in his car during the daytime.
The claim was shared by multiple accounts (archived) on Facebook (archived) and X (archived). While some of the posts claimed that Reilly was the chairman of a local Republican Party, other posts added no such details or referred to Reilly as "MAGA Republican Party Chairman." Snopes readers searched the site for information about whether the claim was true.
The claim, although lacking context, does have the story right. Police found Republican Matthew Reilly unconscious in his car with a crack pipe in his hand, and Reilly subsequently resigned. Therefore, we've rated this claim true.
However, some posts failed to clarify that Reilly was only the chairman of the Cranston, Rhode Island, Republican Party, and that this incident and Reilly's subsequent resignation took place in May 2023, years before the claim circulated in July 2026.
In May 2023, local news stations reported that Reilly, a Cranston city councilman in addition to being the chair of the local Republican Party, was found by police with a crack pipe in his hand after a concerned passerby drew attention to him sleeping in his car.
Another Rhode Island-based news station uploaded a video of the police officer's body cam footage. An order suspending Reilly from practicing law confirmed he was arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine.
During that time, the Cranston Republicans posted to Instagram (archived) that Reilly was being replaced as the local party's chair, referring to the incident as an "unfortunate development." A Cranston Republicans Facebook post (archived) from 2021 confirmed Reilly's role at the time as a city councilmember and the local party's chair.
The chairman of the national Republican Party as of July 2026 was Joe Gruters. Nobody named Matthew Reilly has served as the chair of the Republican National Committee.