Etheridge moved to Memphis in 1871 after his term in the state senate had ended. He endorsed Horace Greeley for president in 1872, but declined to campaign for him as an elector. In 1874, Etheridge ran for the state senate as a member of the People's Reform Party, or "Dark Lanterns." In October of that year, he delivered a bizarre and rambling speech at the Greenlaw Opera House in Memphis in which, according to one Memphis newspaper, he "abused everybody and everything. He abused the Democracy, Conservatism, Radicalism, funders, the press, the leaders of both parties," and "hurled his invectives and abuse at the world generally." He was easily defeated in the election by the Democratic candidate, Peyton J. Smith.