Polls opened on Sunday in the German state of Brandenburg, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to finish first, aiming to build on recent successes in other eastern states and surpass Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in this traditional stronghold.

The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II, in Thuringia, on Sept. 1 and just missed first place in Saxony.

It is one of several far-right groups in Europe…