JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.2/css/select2.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/select2/4.0.2/js/select2.min.js"></script>

<select></select>

CSS

.select2-dropdown {
  margin-top: 10px;
  margin-left: 8px;
}

JavaScript

var data = [{
    id: 0,
    text: '<span>Test <span style="color:red;">New</span></span>'
  }
];

$("select").select2({
  data: data,
  templateResult: function(d) {
    return $(d.text);
  },
  templateSelection: function(d) {
    return $(d.text);
  },

})