JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<ul>
    <li><span class="item">span</span><span>item span</span></li>
    <li><span class="item">item span</span></li>
    <li><span>span</span></li>
    <span class="item">item span</span>
</ul>

JavaScript

$(function () {
    $('span.item').each(function (index) {
        $(this).wrap('<li></li>');
    });
    console.log($('ul').html());
});