JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<li>
    <a href="/"> <img src="image.png"> text to be converted to element </a>
</li>

JavaScript

var anchor = $('li a');
anchor.after('<p>' + anchor.text() + '</p>')
    .contents()
    .filter(function(){
        return (this.nodeType == 3);
    })
    .remove();