JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<a href="javascript:void(0);" class="edit" data-id="123">Edit</a>

JavaScript

$(function() {
  
  $(".edit").click(function() {
    switchTag(this, "span");
  });
  
  function switchTag(e, toTag) {
    var outerHTML = e.outerHTML;
    outerHTML = outerHTML.replace(/^<([a-z])(.*?)>(.*)<\/\1>$/ig, "<" + toTag + "$2>$3</" + toTag + ">");
    e.outerHTML = outerHTML;
  };
  
});