With Brandenburg's vote being viewed as a referendum on Scholz's government, defeat for the SPD would be of deep symbolic significance, particularly before next autumn's Bundestag election.
Three weeks ago, the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) upended the status quo with its win in Thuringia - the first time a far-right force had won a state election in post-war Germany.
You can smell it in the air. As the only state in eastern Germany where the Social Democrats have ruled continuously since German reunification in 1990, Brandenburg's vote is seen as a particular test for the embattled coalition government.
Dietmar Woidke, Brandenburg's popular state leader from the SPD, upped the ante by pledging to resign if the AfD wins on Sunday.
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