JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div id="results"></div>

JavaScript

var data = {};
data = {"vals":["val1223","val1389","val1897","val1321"]};
var queryvar =  "val1"; //$('#search').val();//value sent in AJAX query

display="";
display +="<ul>";

 //in response

 if(data.vals){
    var reg = new RegExp(queryvar,"g");
    $.each(data.vals, function(k,v){
       v = v.replace(reg, '<i>' +queryvar+ '</i>'); 
       display +='<li>' + v + '</li>';
    }); 
  }
display +="</ul>";
$('#results').html(display);