JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table id="ddReferences">
    <tr>
        <td><span>asdf</span></td>
    </tr>
</table>

JavaScript

alert(
    document.getElementById("ddReferences")
        .rows.item(0)
            .cells.item(0)
                .firstChild
                    .textContent
);