JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div id="foo"> <span>
        <a href="#" class="no-want">X</a>
        &nbsp;
        1
    </span>
 <span>
        <a href="#" class="no-want">X</a>
        &nbsp;
        2
    </span>
    <span>
        <a href="#" class="no-want">X</a>
        &nbsp;
        Hello
    </span>

</div>
<h3>results</h3>
<pre></pre>

JavaScript

var values = $('#foo').children().map(function () {
    var $clone = $(this).clone();
    $clone.children().remove();
    return $.trim($clone.text());

}).get();
$('pre').text(JSON.stringify(values, null, ' '))
console.log(values)